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Johannes (Yogi) is a freelance philosopher, researcher & educator. We discuss many of the topics in his online course, Beyond Networks: The Evolution of Living Systems. The course is focused on the role of agency in evolution, but it covers a vast range of topics: process vs. substance metaphysics, causality, mechanistic dynamic explanation, teleology, the important role of development mediating genotypes, phenotypes, and evolution, what makes biological organisms unique, the history of evolutionary theory, scientific perspectivism, and a view toward the necessity of including agency in evolutionary theory. I highly recommend taking his course. We also discuss the role of agency in artificial intelligence, how neuroscience and evolutionary theory are undergoing parallel re-evaluations, and Yogi answers a guest question from Kevin Mitchell.
0:00 - Intro
4:10 - Yogi's background
11:00 - Beyond Networks - limits of dynamical systems models
16:53 - Kevin Mitchell question
20:12 - Process metaphysics
26:13 - Agency in evolution
40:37 - Agent-environment interaction, open-endedness
45:30 - AI and agency
55:40 - Life and intelligence
59:08 - Deep learning and neuroscience
1:03:21 - Mental autonomy
1:06:10 - William Wimsatt's biopsychological thicket
1:11:23 - Limtiations of mechanistic dynamic explanation
1:18:53 - Synthesis versus multi-perspectivism
1:30:31 - Specialization versus generalization
