Love & Philosophy

Paul Holdengräber, a master conversationalist known for engaging with influential figures, shares his unique approach to dialogue and connection. He reflects on his family's escape from the Nazis, his philosophical journeys, and the lessons learned from being jobless. The discussion highlights the importance of listening, the therapeutic nature of reminiscing, and how digression can reveal deeper truths. Through anecdotes, he explores identity, the complexities of human relationships, and the transformative power of meaningful conversations in a changing world.

Send a love messageA biographical look into the lairs of modern neuroscience. Part 1 of a research conversation on the hippocampus. And notes for a tale of how McGill University, the invasion of Prague, and UCL pulled two expats together towards discoveries and writings that have changed a scientific framework.Lynn Nadel has been doing influential research about memory and the hippocampus for decades. He is the co-author with Nobel Prize winner John O'Keefe of The Hippocampus As a Cognitive Map, one of the first books to open new fields of research relative to a part of the brain called the hippocampus, known for its role in both memory and navigation.Nadel and O'Keefe met at McGill University at a time when the place was buzzing with the books, papers and people creating what we now study as neuroscience.McGill University in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s can look a bit like the superhero headquarters of what would develop into modern neuroscience. Once you begin to list all the people who were working there at that time and all the threads that have since influenced the filed, from Wilder Penfield and Brenda Milner to Donald Hebb to John O'Keefe and Lynn Nadel, one begins to see how much of the work being done today was oriented from that starting point.University of Arizona pageLynn NadelJohn O'Keefe Nobel Lecture Henry Moliason (H.M.)Brenda MilnerPeter Milner, author of Physiological PsychologyDonald HebbWilder PenfieldRonald MelzacSuzanne CorkinBob Mueller & John Kubie Jim RanckSoviet Invasion of PragueUniversity College LondonThe Hippocampus as a Cognitive MapHippocampus History on MastadonPsych Review story on bjks podcast McGill University NeuroSupport the showPlease rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

Send a love messageThis is a conversation between Andrea Hiott and Daniel Ari Friedman discussing various themes related to cognition, perception, action, and the concept of Active Inference. The conversation starts with Daniel's time with Deborah Gordan studying ants. Then they delve into the understanding of different terminologies and concepts relative to complexity, the individual and collective behaviour. They dive deep into Karl Friston's active inference and into relative terms like predictive processing, predictive coding and the role and application of models and 'maps' in scientific research. Daniel explains the principles of active inference in relation to cognition and perception and how it can be viewed as a scale-free (or better scale-friendly) framework. They also discuss the importance of semantics in their fields and the role of the Active Inference Institute. The conversation is reflective and philosophical, touching on the intersection between cognitive science, neuroscience, and environmental interaction. They come to words like 'service' and 'love' before it ends.Relative to way-making research: System 3 representations and a discussion of affordances (a fence post or a rock does not have them)Podcast artwork by Daniel Ari FriedmanDaniel's personal siteResearch sitePostdoc reviewActive Inference InstituteSupport on Patreon and You Tube. Listen anywhere you find podcasts.Andrea & Daniel discuss:scale-free and scale-friendly.Individual and Collective behaviour of ants.Complex systems.Bioinformatics.How we can find real boundaries, and how not-so-real boundaries can be modelled.Uncertainty.Language as a model.The difference between predictive processing, predictive coding, and active inference.Why a fence post does not have affordances.Affordance beyond Gibson.Perception as inbound regularities. Action as outbound regularities.  Buckminster Fuller: "Unity is plural and at minimum two."Deborah GordanGordon's paper Wittgenstein and Ant WatchingKarl FristonChris Fields ResearchCompetency in Navigating Arbitrary Spaces as an Invariant for Analyzing Cognition in Diverse EmbodimentsActive InferenceFor Paulo Sayeg: https://philpapers.org/versions/IENPPUFor RJ Cordes & Dean Tickles: Support the showPlease rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

Author Jeremy Lent discusses the importance of recognizing patterns between things, the false distinction between science and spirituality, and defining spirituality as seeking meaning in connections. He also emphasizes dynamic patterns, natural attractors, and interconnectedness for personal growth and creating a life-affirming civilization.

Mike Levin, a guest exploring philosophical and scientific perspectives, discusses bridging ecological and technological perspectives, bioelectric modulations, envisioning a healthier relationship between ecology and technology, expanding perspectives from anthrobots to cognitive landscapes, and exploring the role of language and perspective in understanding biobots.

Send a love messageWhat can a computer be?A discussion about computing with Flora Moon and Esteban Montero of Holon Labs. What is a computer and what do we want it to be? If a computer is made of living matter (something being explored now in various labs) how do we understand the traditional distinctions of technology and biology?“The air itself is one vast library on whose pages are for ever written all that man has ever said or woman whispered.”__Charles Babbage (1837)A Categorical Defense of the Future by Esteban Montero and Brandon BaylorHolon LabsFlora Moon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/floramoon/Esteban Montero LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jemonterov/Alan TuringClaude Shannon Category theory—a way to represent meaningHilma af Klint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_KlintPema Chodron When Things Fall Apart#computing #computer #cognition #love #philosophySupport the showPlease rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

Prof. Richard Watson discusses reimagining adaptation and Darwinism, exploring universal Darwinism beyond biology and connectionism. They tackle the dichotomy between linear thinking and vulnerable knowing, transitions in evolutionary algorithms, and the transformative power of knowing and being known.

Tufts biologist Michael Levin discusses scales of cognition, science fiction's role in expanding perspectives, and the need to redefine life and mind. The conversation delves into non-binary perspectives in developmental biology, self-realization, morphogenesis, and collective intelligence, challenging conventional boundaries in science and philosophy.

Send a love messageA conversation with philosopher and author C. Thi Nguyen about the power of focus, the precision of puzzles, the dangers and delights of games and play and the distinction between them. We talk about his recent book Games, Agency as Art and well as his popular articles Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles and How Twitter gamifies communication. Some of the books and people mentioned are:Mary Poovey, History of the Modern FactTheodore Porter, Trust in NumbersBernard Suits definition of gamesJerry Levinson, Moral Outrage PornBasho: even in Kyoto / when I hear a cuckoo cry / I long for KyotoFeminist philosophy of art by Anne EatonAnnette Baier, Trust and Anti-TrustTranscript:Hello, everyone. Welcome to Love and Philosophy Beyond Dichotomies. Today, we're  📍 talking to C. Thi Nguyen. Mostly about his book Games ,Agency as Art but also about many other things....about love, how is it related to games? Thi is a kind of philosopher's philosopher, so it's a little surprising to hear him say that philosophy was his backup career that he actually wanted to be a novelist.  But when you hear how much pleasure he takes in Kant's formula of humanity, I think you'll also imagine he's always been a philosopher as well....we turn back and forth and shift around like a Rubik's cube. Art. Porn. Focus. Vulnerability. We talk a lot about trust...Support on Patreon and You Tube. Listen anywhere you find podcasts.Support the showPlease rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

Send a love messageA foundational discussion in the philosophy of love with Prof Alex Moseley.Check out the Philosophy of Love encyclopedia article here. Or his other articles.More at What is Love?The three kinds of love we discuss here are eros, agape, and philia. More on this at readings in the philosophy of Love.Here is the website for Alex and his YouTube Channel.Transcript preview:Andrea: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. So glad you're here. Today we're talking to. Professor Alex Mosley. He's a teacher. He's also a coach. He also wrote the encyclopedia entry for love and philosophy. So who better to talk to? We'll link to the internet encyclopedia entry on that in the show notes. So be sure to check it out and. Here we talk about love and we tried to go past traditional boundaries. Both of us were trained in philosophy, both analytic and continental, but both of us also have a--what shall I say--more explorative side as well, when it comes to trying to understand the world. So we just sorta let it all go where it would. We meander and go into all kinds of [00:01:00] different ideas, some of them, which analytic philosophers might not like, but, also some of them which make me uncomfortable, but you know, that's part of the show is just trying to see where we can go and how we can find new ways to look at these things that seem not to go together or seem to make us uncomfortable....Support the showPlease rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.