New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

Autopoiesis and the Laws of Form with Terry Marks-Tarlow

5 snips
Oct 16, 2025
Terry Marks-Tarlow, a clinical psychologist and author specializing in the intersections of psychology and complexity, dives into the fascinating concepts of autopoiesis and the Laws of Form. She discusses how living systems maintain boundaries while embracing paradox and recursion. The conversation explores the interplay between consciousness and materialism, structural openness, and the emergence of complexity from distinctions. Marks-Tarlow also links these ideas to mysticism and AI, hinting at the potential for self-aware systems.
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INSIGHT

Autopoiesis Starts With Distinction

  • Autopoiesis describes living systems that self-maintain boundaries and reproduce themselves.
  • Spencer-Brown and Varela frame this process as originating from acts of distinction tied to consciousness.
INSIGHT

A Single Mark Bridges Mind And Matter

  • The Laws of Form reduce all to the primal act of making a distinction (a mark).
  • This calculus links subjective consciousness with the mathematical structures underlying life.
INSIGHT

Re-Entry Creates Recursive Selfhood

  • Re-entry (or cancellation) lets a distinction loop back and alter its own boundary.
  • That self-referential loop models feedback, recursion, and how living systems redefine themselves.
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