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What if your thoughts aren’t your own? Professors Elan Barenholtz and William Hahn propose that language is not a tool we use but a self-generating organism that uses us. In this mind-bending live discussion at the University of Toronto, they argue that language installs itself in our minds like software, runs autonomously, and shapes behavior at a deeper level than we realize. Drawing on LLMs, autoregression, and cognitive science, they suggest your brain may function like a predictive engine and that “memory,” “self,” and even “God” may just be tokens in an informational system.
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Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
05:28 The Nature of Autoregression
10:14 Memory and Cognition Redefined
11:28 The Role of Language Models
14:23 Exploring Consciousness and Software
26:22 The Evolution of Language
38:08 Language: A Cultural Artifact
54:19 The Power and Danger of Language
1:02:52 Embracing Uncertainty in Knowledge
1:04:59 Courage to Believe in Ideas
1:09:30 Support and Engagement with Content
Links Mentioned:
• Elan’s Substack: https://elanbarenholtz.substack.com/
• Elan’s Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2grAjZsAAAAJ&hl=en
• William’s Blog: https://hahn.ai/blog/index.html
• Ekkolapto’s Site: https://www.ekkolapto.org/
• Andrés Emilsson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/BBP8WZpYp0Y
• Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: https://youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
• Anna Ciaunica & Michael Levin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2aLhkm6QUgA
• William Hahn [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3fkg0uTA3qU
• Michael Levin’s Presentation [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Exdz2HKP7u0
• Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
• Geoffrey Hinton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/b_DUft-BdIE
• Ai Panel [TOE]: https://youtu.be/abzXzPBW4_s
• Joscha Bach & Ben Goertzel [TOE]: https://youtu.be/xw7omaQ8SgA
• Noam Chomsky [TOE]: https://youtu.be/DQuiso493ro
• Michael Levin Solo [TOE]: https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
• Consciousness Iceberg [TOE]: https://youtu.be/65yjqIDghEk
• Joscha Bach [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
• Scott Aaronson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/gGsh0_-q7LI
• Iain McGilchrist [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Q9sBKCd2HD0
• The Master and His Emissary [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Master-His-Emissary-Divided-Western/dp/0300188374
• Michael Levin & Karl Friston [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0yOV9Pzk2zw
• Shape Rotators vs Wordcels [Article]: https://sasamilic.medium.com/some-thoughts-on-the-shape-rotator-vs-worcel-meme-f320261a21cd
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