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200 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Against Mind-Blindness: recognizing and communicating with unconventional beings by Michael Levin
26 oktober 2025 · 50 min
This ~50 minute talk given at a futurism/AI gathering is a variant of my recent talks on diverse intelligence, focusing on ways to expand our perspective via considerations of non-brain-based intelligence in the body, patterns as agents, synthetic beings as model systems for learning to predict and communicate with agents that do not share our selection history, pattern of form and behavior from the latent space, and more. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Expanding concepts of mind
(15:13) Anatomy as cognitive space
(20:13) Bioelectric communication and regeneration
(26:44) Pattern agents and biobots
(36:57) Mathematical latent mindspace
(42:33) Platonic minds and machines
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Conversation with Benjamin Lyons, Eli Sennesh, and Jordan Theriault
21 oktober 2025 · 1 uur 1 min
This is a ~1 hour discussion with Ben Lyons (https://interestingessays.substack.com/), Eli Sennesh (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3z4ALYgAAAAJ&hl=en), and Jordan Theriault (http://www.jordan-theriault.com/), where they each give talks and then we have a brief Q&A on topics related to neuroscience, economics, and specifically the interoception and allostasis view of behavioral and psychological processes. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introductions and Framing
(04:10) Allostasis and Interoception
(17:21) Prediction Categories Metabolism
(35:50) Control-Oriented Brain Theory
(48:31) Evolutionary Regulation Discussion
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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"What the physiological software of life means for patient-specific interventions" by Michael Levin
14 oktober 2025 · 5 min
This is a very brief (~5 minute) explanation I made at a conference on next generation biomedicine about the topic of physiological learning and reprogrammability. I was commenting on the fact that differences in patient responses to interventions are not only due to genetics and epigenetics, but also to the memories made by cells and tissues of past experiences (which will differ greatly across patients). Any molecular pathway shown in textbooks and papers won't function the same way in each individual because many of them can store dynamical system memories of past history and act differently in the future. The comment has no visuals to it, so I simply added some movies of our 2-headed planarian flatworms (originally recorded by Junji Morokuma in my lab) and then some nice ocean videos I shot at sunrise. The worms are a nice example: their bioelectric state was reprogrammed by a brief intervention (physiological experience) and now they forever make 2-headed regenerative (asexual) progeny despite having totally normal genetics. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Patient-Specific Cellular Memories
(02:16) Cellular Goal-Directed Growth
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Why bioelectricity in morphogenesis matters: an introduction in 3 slides by Michael Levin
14 oktober 2025 · 9 min
This is an ~8 minute very quick introduction about the context for developmental bioelectricity and some examples of how we use it as an interface to control growth and form. In this very short 3 slide introduction at a discussion forum, I tried to explain that bioelectricity is not just more physics we need to keep track of in morphogenesis, nor is it about applying external fields to have effects on cells. It's important in the body, and for biomedicine, for the exact same reason it's important in the brain: because it's the natural medium in which the collective intelligence of cell groups operates, and thus it's a great interface for deploying top-down, high-level interventions: it makes the living material reprogrammable in software, without having to edit DNA. By collaborating with the agential material of life (re-writing its setpoint memories, etc.) we can reach very complex outcomes that are too hard to micromanage from the molecular level. The context is cognition, not physics, with the payoff being the same kind of advance in biosciences as we've had in the move from having to work on computers at the hardware level (1950's) to being able to work in high-level languages or even prompts. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Axolotl top-down regeneration
(01:32) Bioelectric patterning and eyes
(03:27) Cancer as bioelectric failure
(05:02) Controlling cancer with bioelectricity
(06:24) Repairing genetic brain defects
(07:45) Limb regeneration via electroceuticals
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Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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"The biology of apparent selves" by Michael Levin
12 oktober 2025 · 52 min
This is a ~52-minute talk titled "The Biology of Apparent Selves: Lees meer
Bioengineering Model Systems for the Contemplative Sciences" that I have at the CSCSC 25 (Complex Systems and Contemplative Studies Conference) symposium (https://luma.com/3vyrtz4j?utm_source=ep-g2M2JDmWHB).
CHAPTERS:
(00:01) Embodied Minds And TAME
(03:30) Beyond Human-Centric Minds
(11:36) From Chemistry To Selves
(18:49) Bioelectric Goals And Regeneration
(24:36) Metamorphosis Memory And Self
(30:38) Biological Plasticity And Goals
(34:14) Xenobots And Anthrobots
(39:41) Platonic Patterns And Minds
(48:55) Magic Beyond Life Machines
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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Patricia Silveira 1
11 oktober 2025 · 48 min
This is a ~48 minute discussion between Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&hl=en), Patricia Silveira (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VexSZ40AAAAJ&hl=en), and me on the topic of molecular markers of trauma and how to extend ideas about the psychology of trauma to minimal models of cognition such as Xenobots and Anthrobots. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Early adversity and EPGS
(07:02) Trauma biomarkers and networks
(15:29) Designing anthrobot validation experiments
(19:42) Xenobots, rodents, and trauma
(27:10) Optimal developmental stress window
(33:41) Too little stress question
(41:49) Uncertainty, self-models, and play
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Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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"The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist" by Michael Levin
8 oktober 2025 · 59 min
This is a ~58 minute talk titled "The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist: symmetries between AI and bioengineering the agential material of life and their impact on technology and on our future" which I gave as a closing Keynote to the ALIFE conference in Japan (https://2025.alife.org/). This is a different talk than any I've done before, in that besides going over the remarkable capacities of living material, I discuss 1) the symmetries between how all agents navigate their world and how science discoveries are made, and 2) a new robot scientist platform that we have created. With respect to the latter, I discuss how the body and mind of this new embodied AI can serve as a translation and integration layer between human scientists and living matter such as the cells which make up Xenobots. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introduction and framework
(10:11) Towards anatomical compiler
(20:16) Anatomical intelligence and bioelectricity
(29:10) Rewriting morphological goals
(36:08) Xenobots and anthrobots
(45:02) MomBot robotic scientist
(51:24) Future directions and thanks
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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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"Bioelectricity: a bridge between physics and cognition, by way of biology" by Michael Levin
7 oktober 2025 · 22 min
This is a ~22 minute talk that I gave remotely at the Tech For Impact Summit 2025 in Japan (https://tech4impactsummit.com/). It goes very quickly over the idea of bioelectricity as the cognitive glue between different scales of intelligence at the body, allowing top-down control and transduction of high-level goals down to the chemistry. I discuss the idea of agential materials, the goals of novel beings, and the implications for the future of biomedicine and beyond. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Mind Body Bioelectric Bridge
(02:33) Agential Cells, Competent Matter
(04:55) Regeneration And Global Goals
(08:11) Decoding Embryonic Bioelectric Patterns
(11:34) Rewriting Bodily Pattern Memories
(14:04) Bioelectric Repatterning And Regeneration
(16:31) Anthrobots And Platonic Possibilities
(20:11) Future Biomedicine And Ethics
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Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Bioelectricity: A Bridge Between Physics and Cognition, by Way of Biology
23 september 2025 · 54 min
This is a ~54 minute talk I gave, titled ""Bioelectricity: a bridge between physics and cognition, by way of biology", at the National Institute of Health Interest Group "Quantum SIG" (https://oir.nih.gov/sigs/qis-quantum-sensing-biology-interest-group). My talk doesn't contain any quantum biology content per se, but I discuss the idea of top-down control and cognition all the way down, from abstract mental goals to molecular pathways, with bioelectricity as a tractable medium for the communicat... Lees meer
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Intrinsic Motivation in Evolved, Engineered, and Hybrid Systems
20 september 2025 · 57 min
This is a ~1 hour talk I gave at the Oxford Robotics Institute called "Intrinsic motivation in evolved, engineered, and hybrid systems: the interface of biophysics, computer science, and behavioral science". It covers our work from the perspective of motivations - what are they (in various unconventional agents, spaces, and scales), how can we predict/change them, and where they "come from". Lees meer
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Discussion between Elliot Murphy and Michael Levin 1
18 september 2025 · 58 min
This is a a ~1 hour discussion between Elliot Murphy (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4AYNRj0AAAAJ&hl=en) and me on the topic of language, evolution, neuroscience, and language models. Lees meer
Elliot's paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17588928.2025.2523875
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Neural Basis Of Syntax
(19:00) Signatures Of Structured Grammar
(30:11) Origins Of Grammatical Structure
(41:39) Oscillations And Bioelectric Cognition
(50:18) Free Will And Emergence
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Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Discussion with Chris Fields and Julian Gough #1
12 september 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
This is a conversation between Chris Fields (https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/christopher-a-chris-fields-ph-d/), Julian Gough (https://theeggandtherock.com/), and me about the theory of selection on the scale of universes and analogies to biology. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Evolutionary Cosmology Overview
(10:03) Universe Heredity And Environment
(20:10) Universe As Organism
(30:58) Fermi Paradox And Habitability
(39:19) Water Chemistry And Exaptation
(50:09) Cosmic Genome And Environment
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Discussion with Jordi Vallverdú #1
11 september 2025 · 50 min
This is a discussion between Jordi Vallverdú (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y_Q8AQkAAAAJ&hl=en) and me, around the topic of transferring information from the minds of embodied humans into LLM AI's, and natural, biological analogs of this process (moving cognitive patterns across embodiments). Lees meer
The paper Jordi was referring to: https://journals.bilpubgroup.com/index.php/fls/article/view/8060
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Embodiment and Language Models
(20:17) Caterpillars, Memories, and LLMs
(27:23) AI, Science, Human Limits
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Aastha Jain and I interview Robert Gatenby
9 september 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
This is a ~1 hour interview by Aastha Jain Simes (https://www.livelongerworld.com/) and I of leading cancer researcher Robert Gatenby (https://www.moffitt.org/inspiring-stories/dr.-gatenbys-story). Bob talks about the evolutionary and physiology approach to understanding cancer. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Evolutionary Hallmarks of Cancer
(12:02) Cooperation Stress Bioelectricity
(22:23) Information Thermodynamics Morphogenesis
(36:23) Cancer Information and Aging
(43:04) Adaptive Therapy and Biomarkers
(55:06) Habitat Imaging and Evolution
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Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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"Mapping Diverse Intelligence Spaces" by Janet Wiles - discussion
6 september 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
This is a ~36 minute talk by Janet Wiles (https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/13) "Mapping Diverse Intelligence Spaces: looking for xenobots in computational models of memory and language", followed by a ~24 minute discussion of her work on the intersection of cognitive science, language, robotics, and computer science, and some of our work on evolution and synthetic bioengineering. Lees meer
Slides kindly provided by Janet: https://thoughtforms.life/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Thoughtforms-Conversation-with-Michael-Levin-Talk-Slides-from-Janet-Wiles.pdf
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Mapping developmental lineages
(11:18) Memory, partitioning, language
(36:46) Memory transfer dynamics
(49:30) Plasticity, gradients, bioelectricity
(59:30) Talking with organs
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Against Mind-Blindness: Recognizing and Communicating with Agential Materials by Michael Levin
2 september 2025 · 1 uur 11 min
This is a 1 hour 11 minute talk by me called "Against Mind-Blindness: recognizing and communicating with Agential Materials and Beyond". It is a slightly longer, updated version of this talk from last month, containing a bit of new material and a somewhat differently-ordered presentation. Lees meer
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Patterns of Form and Behavior Beyond Emergence by Michael Levin
28 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 14 min
This is a ~1 hour 15 minute talk titled "Patterns of Form and Behavior Beyond Emergence: how Platonic Space in-forms evolved, engineered, and hybrid embodied minds", which is the kickoff talk for our Symposium on Platonic Space (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/). Here I go slowly step by step to review the data that motivates this unconventional way to look at biology, and then (at around minute 47) present a speculative model and a research program we are pursuing to test and extend these ideas in a practical way. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Patterns Across Biological Spaces
(15:07) Goal-Directed Anatomical Homeostasis
(25:01) Beyond Genetics and Selection
(31:50) Synthetic Xenobots and Anthrobots
(42:52) Platonic Patterns Versus Emergence
(55:12) Physical Systems as Interfaces
(01:04:50) Summary, Implications, Research Program
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The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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Biological and Technological Information Processing
18 augustus 2025 · 36 min
This is a ~35 minute talk on commonalities and differences between biological and technological information processing, and the implications for AI (given at the AGI-25 conference in Iceland). The full program, including Hananel Hazan's talk (which is the 2nd half of mine), is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdftA37yZJw. Lees meer
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Unconventional Embodiments of Consciousness: A Diverse Intelligence Research Program - Michael Levin
6 augustus 2025 · 47 min
This is a ~46 minute talk given at a conference on consciousness, presenting my lab's data on cognition in body organs outside the brain and then some speculations about the mind-body connection more generally (fleshing out my Platonic space model with symmetries between brain:mind relationships and mathematics:physics relationships). Lees meer
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Against Mind-blindness: Recognizing and Communicating with Agential Materials and Beyond - Michael Levin
22 juli 2025 · 1 uur 7 min
This is a ~1 hour 7 minute talk I gave at the SEMF Interdisciplinary School (July 2025, https://semf.org.es/school2025/#speakers-container) on agency ways to think about expanding our ability to detect and communicate with unconventional minds. The same talk but with a lengthy Q&A will be up on the SEMF website. Lees meer
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Beyond Complexity & Emergence: Taming Multiscale Competency in Agential Materials
19 juli 2025 · 54 min
This is a ~54 minute talk given at a workshop on complexity. Many of the examples are the same ones I often talk about but this talk is focused on explaining how biology deals with complexity, and ways to think about complex patterns of form and behavior beyond the conventional approach of emergence. Lees meer
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Engineering Agential Materials
11 juli 2025 · 27 min
This is a ~18 min talk plus ~10 min Q&A on a top-down approach to bioengineering and robotics that I gave at the Biohybrid Robotics Symposium in Switzerland in July 2025 (https://biohybrid-robotics.com/). Lees meer
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Discussion with Michael Johnson
9 juli 2025 · 55 min
This is a ~55 minute conversation with Michael Johnson (https://t.co/YxAOZif0V2) covering topics of spectrum of consciousness down to the cell (and below) level, implicit memory and cellular pixels of experience, Platonic space, symmetry breaking, and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in systems. Lees meer
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Unconventional Selves - a Diverse Intelligence Perspective on Consciousness by Michael Levin
7 juli 2025 · 1 uur 12 min
"Unconventional selves in novel spaces, scales, and embodiments - a diverse intelligence perspective on a continuum of cognition and consciousness" is a ~1 hour 12 min talk I gave at a conference on consciousness (https://www.hardproblem.it/), as it relates to our work on diverse intelligence and unconventional cognition. Lees meer
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Nothing in Biology Makes Sense without Teleology
5 juli 2025 · 1 uur 19 min
This is a deliberately provocative talk (~1 hour 20 minutes) I gave on teleology (a pretty taboo subject in a lot of the life sciences) delivered at Caltech. I try to go step by step and show the philosophical background of how I think about goal-directedness in physically embodied agents (cells and tissues etc.) and then the data - classic examples and new discoveries that this framework allowed us to make. Lees meer
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Discussion with Murray Shanahan
28 juni 2025 · 25 min
This is a ~25 minute discussion with Murray Shanahan (https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~mpsha/) on topics following up on his talk in our Center (https://youtu.be/ZlKc3ebLgEI?si=Tmq5gOwVDi4t-pip). Lees meer
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Discussion between Adam Safron, Max Shen, and Michael Levin
26 juni 2025 · 59 min
This is a ~1 hour discussion with Adam Safron (https://www.adamsafron.com/) and Max Shen (https://www.maxkshen.com/home), and Michael Levinabout diverse intelligence and its relevance for pain. Lees meer
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Discussion with David Spivak
25 juni 2025 · 57 min
This is a ~1 hour discussion with mathematician David Spivak (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Spivak) about issues related to goal-directedness and some puzzles around mathematical vs. physical constants (see https://thoughtforms.life/why-the-tight-clustering-of-mathematical-constants/ for more details on that question). Lees meer
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Endogenous Bioelectrical Networks: An Interface to Somatic Intelligence
24 juni 2025 · 51 min
This is a ~55 min talk by Michael Levin "Endogenous Bioelectrical Networks: an interface to somatic intelligence for regenerative medicine", going over the state of the art in developmental bioelectricity in the context of collaborating with the cellular collective intelligence for applications in birth defects, regeneration, and cancer. It has some new material beyond what my recent talks on this topic have covered. Lees meer
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Against Mind-Blindness
16 juni 2025 · 57 min
This is a new ~1 hour talk by me on the concept of diverse intelligence, and morphogenesis as a model system with which to practice identifying and communicating with unconventional minds. This is a bit different than previous ones because I explicitly go over examples of how some of our various data on bioelectrics addresses each of several key properties of cellular collectives as *cognitive agents* navigating anatomical morphospace. Lees meer
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Chemical AI: An Unconventional Strategy for Mimicking Biological Intelligence - Pier Luigi Gentili
10 juni 2025 · 58 min
This is a ~1 hour total presentation by Pier Luigi Gentili (https://www.pierluigigentili.com/) and brainstorming session about chemical intelligence and its relationship to the broader field of diverse intelligence. Lees meer
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Bioelectric Networks as the Interface to Somatic Intelligence: Toward a New Regenerative Medicine
6 juni 2025 · 51 min
This is a ~50 minute talk by me (given at IIT Mandi yesterday) on bioelectricity from the perspective of both, a path to regenerative medicine of birth defects, injury repair, and cancer, and a model system for learning to communicate with unconventional collective intelligences. Lees meer
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Conversation with Benjamin Lyons, Mark Blumberg, and Karen Adolph: Motor Development and Cognition
3 juni 2025 · 36 min
This is a ~30 minute conversation with Benjamin Lyons (https://benjaminflyons.com/), Mark Blumberg (https://blumberg.lab.uiowa.edu), and Karen Adolph (https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/karen-adolph.html) on the field of motor development and behavior in humans and other animals, and the ties between that field and the morphogenetic intelligence of embryogenesis and regeneration. Lees meer
Suggested reading:
Adolph, K. E. (2020). Oh, behave! Presidential address. Infancy, 25, 347-392.
Adolph, K. E., Hoch, J. ...
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Against Mind-Blindness: Recognizing and Communicating With Diverse Intelligences
15 mei 2025 · 36 min
This is a ~35 minute talk about diverse intelligence and our efforts to establish formalisms and methods for communicating with unconventional biological intelligences. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Expanding Mind Blindness
(02:50) Recognizing Diverse Minds
(05:00) Embodied Agent Origins
(08:40) Anatomical Intelligence Spaces
(12:40) Bioelectricity: Body's Glue
(15:50) Communicating Cell Intelligence
(22:30) Patterns Beyond Physics
(25:00) Anthrobots: Novel Life Forms
(27:30) Future Beings, Pattern Space
(32:30) Conclusion and ThanksCONNECT WITH ME:
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Scaling Intelligence in Biology, Artificial Life, and Beyond
11 mei 2025 · 24 min
This is a ~20 minute very rapid talk reviewing ideas around the scaling of intelligence in unconventional substrates. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Intro & Unconventional Concepts
(00:40) Challenging Traditional Worldviews
(01:40) Life as Continua
(03:00) Electromagnetic Spectrum Analogy
(04:30) Spectrum of Mind Applications
(05:50) Single Cell to Mind
(07:10) Agential Material: Cell Competency
(08:00) Intelligence Below Cells
(09:00) Multiscale Competency Architecture
(10:00) Anatomical Alignment Problem
(12:30) Bioelectricity: Cognitive Glue
(13:30) Scaling Goals: Light Cone
(14:30) Salamander Regeneration Example
(15:30) Tadpole Eye on Tail
(17:00) Bioelectrical Interface Methods
(18:00) Rewriting Body Memory
(19:00) Frog Limb Regeneration
(20:30) Plasticity: Novel Organisms
(21:30) Anthrobots from Human Cells
(23:00) Future of Viable Agents
(24:00) Synthbiosis: Recognizing Minds
(25:00) Credits and ThanksCONNECT WITH ME:
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Culture as an Additional Scale of Biological Organisation with Ivan Kroupin and Tian Chen Zeng
7 mei 2025 · 57 min
This is a short summary talk by Ivan Kroupin (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XjxueRYAAAAJ&hl=en) and Tian Chen Zeng (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tian-Chen-Zeng) and then a discussion of issues around biological and cultural multi-scale intelligence. Their longer talk is here: https://youtu.be/dYuNJSilRMo?si=gVvMV_N4pjloe0iX Lees meer
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Ethics and the New Biology
26 april 2025 · 33 min
This is a ~30 minute talk to an Ethics class (undergraduates) about aspects of our work that have implications for ethics. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Intelligence All The Way Down
(06:30) Scaling Up Cognition
(13:40) Communicating With Cellular Intelligence
(20:00) Freedom of Embodiment
(27:40) Ethics of Future BeingsCONNECT WITH ME:
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Conversation with Frank Putnam and Alexey Tolchinsky
19 april 2025 · 56 min
This is a ~1 hour conversation with Frank Putnam (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KLGgJg4AAAAJ&hl=en) and Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&hl=en) about dissociative disorders, clinical psychology, and their applications to the cell biology of regenerative medicine and cancer. Lees meer
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Discussion with Michael Johnson
17 april 2025 · 51 min
This is a ~50 minute conversation with Michael Johnson (https://t.co/YxAOZif0V2) on vasocomputation, stress as cognitive glue, and more generally computation and cognition in unconventional substrates. Lees meer
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How Does It Know? Bioelectricity as Memory Medium, Cognitive Glue, & Path to Regenerative Medicine
11 april 2025 · 1 uur
This is a ~1 hour talk on the field of developmental bioelectricity from a perspective of cognitive science and the homology between mechanisms of self-assembly of somatic and brain-based intelligence. Lees meer
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Uncovering Electrodynamic Design Principles of Living Cells
8 april 2025 · 56 min
This is a ~1 hour talk by Jack Tuszynski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tuszy%C5%84ski, https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/jackt) on electrical and electromagnetic properties of microtubules. Lees meer
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Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Thomas Pollak
22 maart 2025 · 57 min
This is a ~1 hour conversation with Alexey Tolchinsky (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexey-Tolchinsky), a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, Center for Professional Psychology, and Thomas Pollak (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-0810), a neuropsychiatrist and researcher working at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, on the topic of extending concepts from neuroscience to understand cellular behav... Lees meer
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Conversation with Lauren Ross
21 maart 2025 · 58 min
This is a ~1 hour discussion with philosopher of science Lauren Ross (https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~rossl/), on the topic of explanation and causation - what does it mean to look for explanations in science, what counts as a good explanation, and how do you know you've got one. Lees meer
Lauren's book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/explanation-in-biology/743A8C5A6E709B1E348FCD4D005C67B3
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Interview with Azra Raza on a New Theory and Practice of Cancer
14 maart 2025 · 59 min
This is a ~1 hour conversation of Aastha Jain Simes (https://www.livelongerworld.com/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/aasthajs) and Azra Raza on her unique and passionate journey in oncology and her ideas for cancer therapy. Lees meer
Azra is an amazing person, clinician, and scientist; see more of her work at:
Columbia web page: https://www.cancer.columbia.edu/profile/azra-raza-md
Personal site with poetry and much more: https://azraraza.com/video-category/poetry-and-ghalib/
Her youtube channel: https://...CONNECT WITH ME:
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Life, Mind, and Computing: A Diverse Intelligence Perspective
13 maart 2025 · 33 min
This is a very fast (~33min) flyover of some ideas relevant to the relationship between biology, computation, cognition, consciousness, and related subjects. This was given at the amazing Progress and Visions in Consciousness Science series (https://amcs-community.org/events/progress-visions-series/) as the prologue to a discussion. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Talk Overview and Structure
(01:30) Expanding Our View of Mind
(04:30) Biology's Multi-Scale Architecture
(09:00) Bioelectricity: Ancient Cognitive Glue
(14:00) Biology Solves Novel Problems
(22:00) Creative Interpretation, Intelligence Ratchet
(29:30) Novel Goals, Platonic Space
(36:00) Conclusion and Future ResearchCONNECT WITH ME:
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Cellular Automata and Models of Health and Disease
11 maart 2025 · 36 min
This is a ~35 minute discussion with Willem Nielsen (https://community.wolfram.com/web/wrn2001, https://medium.com/@wnielsen) from the Wolfram Institute about their cellular automata models of disease and our approach to this problem. Lees meer
Papers to which I referred:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00018-023-04790-z
https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/1/131
https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/7/532
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264722001435
https://journals.sagepub....CONNECT WITH ME:
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Conversation of Michael Levin with Iain McGilchrist
4 maart 2025 · 1 uur 12 min
This is an ~1 hour 10 minute conversation with Iain McGilchrist (https://channelmcgilchrist.com/home/), on the topic of my recent paper on the Platonic Space (https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/5g2xj_v3) - forms ingressing into the physical world in biology, causation, evolution, and mind. Lees meer
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Bioelectric Networks: An Interface to Engineering with the Agential Material of Life
1 maart 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
This is a ~1 hour talk (given at the Departmental Seminar series at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences) on the use of a cognitive approach to bioengineering and regenerative medicine, in which morphogenesis is the behavior (in anatomical space) of a collective intelligence of cellular swarms. I describe our work that takes advantage of the bioelectric interface to re-specify the targets of morphogenesis. Lees meer
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Agential Material for Bioengineering
(02:00) The Anatomical Compiler Goal
(04:00) Biology as Agential Material
(06:00) Intelligence Below Cell Level
(09:00) Anatomy Not Just DNA
(12:00) Hardware vs Software Biology
(14:00) Cellular Collective Intelligence Examples
(18:00) Creative Problem-Solving in Cells
(22:00) Cognitive Glue and Goal-Seeking
(25:00) Bioelectricity: Ancient Communication
(28:00) Reading and Writing Patterns
(30:00) Rewriting Collective Cell Memory
(33:00) Regenerating Limbs in Frogs
(35:00) Planaria Pattern Memory
(39:00) Plasticity Beyond Species
(41:00) Novel Shapes and Galls
(44:00) Computational Models for Repair
(49:00) Cancer as Goal Failure
(50:00) Bioelectric Cancer Suppression
(53:00) Novel Anatomical Goals: Xenobots
(01:00:00) Human Anthrobots from Cells
(01:02:00) Autonomous Personalized Therapeutics
(01:04:00) Top-Down Biomedical Approaches
(01:06:00) Biorobotics and Bioprompting
(01:07:00) Ethics of Diverse BeingsCONNECT WITH ME:
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Aastha Jain Simes and I Interview Pamela Lyon
25 februari 2025 · 1 uur 20 min
This a ~1 hour 20 minute conversation between Aastha Jain Simes (https://www.livelongerworld.com/), Pamela Lyon (https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=1oY1J5kAAAAJ&hl=en), and I. Pamela is a key figure in the development of a biogenic approach to mind, and we talked about her journey to understanding cognition. A few of her papers: Lees meer
https://aeon.co/essays/the-study-of-the-mind-needs-a-copernican-shift-in-perspective
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1059712319871360
https://...
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Discussion with Mayli Mertens on Molecular Placebos and Bioelectricity
24 februari 2025 · 30 min
This is a ~30 minute conversation with Mayli Mertens (Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellow at University of Antwerp, https://philpeople.org/profiles/mayli-mertens) and I on the topic of molecular placebos, bioelectricity, and self-fulfilling prophecies in medicine (the latter being the title of her recent paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11017-024-09677-z ) Lees meer
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