Thoughtforms Life Conversation between Joscha Bach, Chris Fields, and Michael Levin
Jun 6, 2024
Joscha Bach, a cognitive scientist and AI researcher, joins Chris Fields, a researcher blending physics with cognition, for a fascinating discussion. They explore how error-correcting codes underpin cognition and life. The dialogue spans consciousness as a coherence maximizer and the role of memory in sense-making. They dive into the intersection of quantum theory and free energy principles, probing how organisms interpret and utilize past experiences. Their insights challenge traditional views on intelligence and propose innovative frameworks for understanding minds and perception.
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Existence As Error-Correcting Patterns
- Joscha frames particles and living systems as emergent error-correcting patterns that persist by being self-propagating.
- Life and cognition are control structures that model and stabilize future states to maintain persistence.
Persistence As Boundary Preservation
- Chris relates the free energy principle to error correction and boundary preservation of systems.
- Persistent structure equals error-correcting information that maintains a system's state-space boundary over time.
Geometry Emerges From Computation
- Joscha suggests spacetime and geometry are emergent from underlying automata rather than fundamental.
- He views high-level field/graph mappings (e.g., AdS/CFT) as secondary to computation-first descriptions.
