Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Michael Levin Λ Karl Friston Λ Chris Fields on The Meta Hard Problem, Consciousness, and Babbling

Jun 29, 2022

02:04:26

Creator website

Episode guests

Chris Fields

Karl Friston

Michael Levin

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Quick takeaways

During embryonic development, individuality emerges through symmetry breaking and positive feedback loops, highlighting the importance of self-organization and the exploration of possibilities.

Active curiosity and exploration are crucial in embryonic development and cognitive processes, resembling the behaviors exhibited by scientists in experimental design and knowledge acquisition.

Feedback loops play a vital role in the emergence of consciousness and self-awareness, leading to the development of higher-level cognitive processes such as planning, goal-setting, and problem-solving.

The dynamics of self-organization in embryonic development involve the exploration of possibilities, the resolution of uncertainty, and the delicate balance between self and non-self, ultimately leading to the emergence of individuality and cognitive capacities.

Deep dives

The emergence of individuality in embryonic development

During embryonic development, individuality emerges from a pool of undifferentiated cells through processes of symmetry breaking and positive feedback loops. Cells engage in active behavior, probing their environment and constantly adapting their gene expression. Feedback loops play a crucial role in organizing different roles for individual cells, dictating their specific goals and morphologies. The process of individuation involves navigating the tension between self and non-self, determining which actions are caused by the individual itself and which are external. Uncertainty and ambiguity are inherent in this process, leading to the exploration and resolution of different possibilities. The dynamics of self-organization demand the minimization of uncertainty and the maximization of predictability, driving organisms to seek out definitive exchanges and evidence that inform their models of the world.

Applying Mechanic to People, Cultures, and Contexts

01:23

Understanding Consciousness Through Microbial Systems

01:57

Overlap between cognition and consciousness

00:39

The Emergence of Awareness with Increased Complexity

01:23

Introduction

4min

Karl Fiston, Michael Levin and Chris Fields

2min

What Do You Admire About Michael and Chrisiti?

3min

Thinking Out of the Box

3min

Are You Trying to Understand Yourself or Humans?

2min

Is There Really a Zero on the Spectrum?

2min

I'm a Physicist, but in an Academic Sense.

4min

Is There a Difference Between Cognition and Consciousness?

2min

The Meta Hard Problem - Why Are We Conscious?

4min

10.

Can Organisms Plan Multiple Futures?

6min

11.

The Hard Problem - What Is the Format of the Answer?

2min

12.

The Hard Problem - The Alternative of Unconsciousness

2min

13.

Consciousness - Is There a Zero Point on the Scale of Complexity?

2min

14.

Quantim Theory and Consciousness

2min

15.

Are You Learning From Your Environment or Are You Being Trained?

3min

16.

The Importance of Self Awareness in a Market

4min

17.

Is There a Limit to Complexity?

2min

18.

The World Did That, or Did the World Just Do That?

2min

19.

How Do You Model the Interactions Between Agents?

5min

20.

The Imperatives for Self Organization

4min

21.

The Nature of Ambiguity

3min

22.

The Cells Babbling

5min

23.

The Mass of Curiosity in Artificial Intelligence

5min

24.

What Is the Simplest, Most Basic Thing?

4min

25.

A, I'm Putting the 300 Seconds Forward.

4min

26.

What Are Some of the Deep Thoughts That You Are Having?

2min

27.

What Randomness Means?

2min

28.

Is There a Qualitative Transition Between Continuous and Phase?

2min

29.

Quantum Mechanics - Random Fluctuations

6min

30.

A Bit Is Fundamentally the Answer to a Yes or No Question

3min

31.

Babbling All the Way Down

4min

32.

The Self Is a Pantasy

2min

33.

You're Going to Die, You Know?

4min

34.

The Gift of the Fantastic Organ

3min

35.

Is That Not Stabilizing, I Don't Know What Is

2min

36.

The Inability to Resolve Uncertainty

4min

37.

What Are Some Aspects of Your Field That You Are Not Resistant To?

2min

38.

Is There a God in the Universe?

2min

39.

All Ancea Starts With an Act of Faith

3min

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/J6eJ44Jq_pw

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LINKS MENTIONED:

Curt's AMA #:3 https://youtu.be/SX9q2D6b5bc

Karl Friston #2: https://youtu.be/SWtFU1Lit3M

Karl Friston #1: https://youtu.be/2v7LBABwZKA

Michael Levin: https://youtu.be/Z0TNfysTazc

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00:00 Introduction

00:03:20 Michael Levin answers: "What do you respect about Chris / Karl?"

00:04:45 Chris Fields answers: "What do you respect about Michael / Karl?"

00:05:45 Karl Friston answers: "What do you respect about Chris / Michael?"

00:07:46 Self organization / Autopoiesis / Why does life form?

00:12:11 How does cognition emerge from smaller parts?

00:14:18 Why do we see "things" independent from one another? Why in space / time?

00:18:40 Relationship between cognition and consciousness

00:22:03 The Meta Hard Problem

00:30:37 Why is complexity associated with "awareness"?

00:35:56 Is society one large brain, with each person acting as a neuron?

00:44:17 Duality between: Did you act on the world? Or did the world act on you?

00:51:32 Babbling, and becoming a "self"

01:11:22 "300 milliseconds" is a special unit of time for consciousness

01:15:49 Quantum Babbling

01:21:49 The difference between "randomness" and "quantum randomness"

01:30:03 The difference between "external" and "internal" are both real and illusory

01:33:41 Studying consciousness / the self and the concomitant existential dread

01:48:19 Michael Levin: "Something important goes all the way down"

01:51:12 Science starts with faith

* * *

Just wrapped (April 2021) a documentary called Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to watch it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Michael Levin Λ Karl Friston Λ Chris Fields on The Meta Hard Problem, Consciousness, and Babbling

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The emergence of individuality in embryonic development

The significance of active curiosity and exploration

Feedback loops and the emergence of consciousness

The role of complexity and individuation in embryonic development

The importance of resolving uncertainty

The nature of quantitative planning

The concept of self as a construct

Applying Mechanic to People, Cultures, and Contexts

Understanding Consciousness Through Microbial Systems

Overlap between cognition and consciousness

The Emergence of Awareness with Increased Complexity

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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Michael Levin Λ Karl Friston Λ Chris Fields on The Meta Hard Problem, Consciousness, and Babbling

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The emergence of individuality in embryonic development

The significance of active curiosity and exploration

Feedback loops and the emergence of consciousness

The role of complexity and individuation in embryonic development

The importance of resolving uncertainty

The nature of quantitative planning

The concept of self as a construct

Applying Mechanic to People, Cultures, and Contexts

Understanding Consciousness Through Microbial Systems

Overlap between cognition and consciousness

The Emergence of Awareness with Increased Complexity

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