

Thoughtforms Life
Michael Levin
A podcast by Professor Michael Levin exploring the frontiers of biology, cognition, and emergence. Engage in conversations about morphogenesis, bioelectricity, and synthetic life — and uncover how intelligence and agency emerge from the most fundamental levels of nature.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 11, 2025 • 47min
“The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine”
This is a ~46 minute talk by Michael Levin titled “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine” given at a developmental biology/bioengineering symposium, explaining the connections between the cognitive/behavioral sciences and the study of morphogenesis, from the lens of our framework and new technology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Behavioral Science Foundations
(05:57) Agential Cells And Morphospace
(10:47) Goal Directed Regeneration Examples
(18:16) Bioelectric Pattern Memories
(23:32) Exploring Morphological Plasticity
(31:54) Learning Regeneration And Cancer
(36:10) Novel Bioengineered Living Machines
(41:22) Future Minds And Ethics
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Dec 10, 2025 • 55min
Discussion #1 with Katrina Schleisman and David Burke
This is a ~54 minute conversation with Katrina Schleisman (https://www.galois.com/team/katrina-schleisman) and David Burke (https://www.galois.com/team/david-burke) about issues related to memory, Platonism, diverse intelligence, and similar topics.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Paper comments and impetus
(01:38) Math-physics causal dualism
(06:19) Unreasonable effectiveness and foundations
(12:54) Active Platonic patterns learning
(19:36) Verbs, affordances, pattern agency
(29:04) Math gifts before evolution
(35:43) Cognition, life, and idealism
(43:21) Hidden messages and memory
(47:42) Resonant patterns, chance, synchronicity
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Dec 1, 2025 • 53min
Conversation with David Resnik 1
This is a ~52 minute conversation with philosopher David Resnik (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/bioethicist) about the Platonic Space model and our plan for a new paper about a different variant of it than what I've been writing so far.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Morphogenesis and latent space
(15:19) Platonism's scientific utility
(27:06) Explanation, models, morphospace
(36:51) Models, journals, writing
(43:33) Mathematical patterns in evolution
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 30, 2025 • 58min
Discussion #1 with Elan Barenholtz
This is a ~57 minute discussion with Elan Barenholtz (https://mpcrlab.com/people/Elan-Barenholtz/) about language and its possible autonomy in brains, AI models, and other systems linking to our lab's work on active data and the thoughts-thinkers continuum.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Language As Auto-Generator
(21:14) Virtual Governors In Physiology
(30:37) Mathematics, Metaphysics, Free Lunches
(40:40) Language Models As Evidence
(49:46) Minimal Systems, Language Criteria
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 29, 2025 • 52min
Conversation 1 with Diana Moga, Alexey Tolchinsky, and Chris Fields
This is a ~52 minute discussion between Diana Moga (https://www.dianamogamd.com/), Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), and I on topics related to autism, ketamine-assisted therapy, and the linking of these concepts to somatic biology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Ketamine, Trauma, Defining Autism
(06:12) Trauma, Gender, Autism Models
(13:14) Autistic Phenomenological Patterns
(19:23) Autism Neurotypical Continuum Traits
(24:15) Assessments, Attention, Social Trauma
(31:25) Opposite Minds, Hyperplasticity
(38:21) Experiments, Translation, Environments
(44:51) Dimensionality and Collective Behavior
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 23, 2025 • 1h 6min
Conversation 1 with Nora Belrose: AI, sentience, and Platonic Space
This is a ~1 hour 5 minute conversation between Nora Belrose (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p_oBc64AAAAJ&hl=en) and me on the topics of consciousness, AI, and different views of the Platonic Space.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introductions and Moral Risks
(09:11) Intelligence, Sentience, Irreversibility
(16:38) Digital Copies and Value
(24:54) Dynamic Platonic Mindspace
(35:19) Passable Forms, Cosmic Memory
(44:06) Changing Forms, Light Cones
(55:00) LLMs, Goals, Simulation
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 22, 2025 • 56min
Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Thomas Pollak 2
This is a ~1 hour conversation between Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, Center for Professional Psychology, and Thomas Pollak (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-0810), a neuropsychiatrist and researcher working at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. We discussed the implications of rejuvenation therapies for cognition and some strategies for upcoming experiments on Anthrobots.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Rejuvenation, memory, wisdom
(14:07) Cancer and tissue resilience
(20:17) Brainwashing, suggestion, belief
(27:24) Placebo, xenobots, resilience
(34:46) Patient anthrobot models
(45:45) Psychiatric phenotypes in cells
(52:24) Cryogenic reset and organoids
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 21, 2025 • 1h 5min
Discussion #1 with Chris Fields, Mark Solms, Karl Friston, and Thomas Pollak: introspection & more
This is a ~1 hour 5 minute working conversation with Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), Mark Solms (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en), Karl Friston (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q_4u0aoAAAAJ&hl=en), and Thomas Pollak (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pollak) starting on the topic of variable degrees of introspection in natural and synthetic agents, and how that looks from the active inference framework, and moves into related topics of application of cognitive plasticity to regenerative biology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Optimal introspection in agents
(12:56) Consciousness, feeling, clinical introspection
(24:44) Controlling preferences and desires
(35:19) Modifying prior preferences therapeutically
(42:04) Regeneration, biodomes, cellular priors
(52:46) Life missions and pathology
(59:08) Reboots, psychedelics, guided plasticity
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 17, 2025 • 1h 3min
"Entropic motivation and the roots of agency"by Alex Kiefer
This is a ~35 min talk titled "Entropic motivation and the roots of agency" by Alex Kiefer (https://philpeople.org/profiles/alex-kiefer) + ~25 min discussion of the issues of motivation in artificial and natural agents.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Entropy, Motivation, Psychophysical Identity
(35:45) Willpower, Purpose, Buddhist Motivation
(45:57) Emergent Goals and Uncertainty
(58:06) Platonic Patterns and Wrap-up
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

Nov 11, 2025 • 47min
"Unconventional Embodiments: model systems & strategies addressing mind-blindness" by Michael Levin
This is a ~45 minute talk for an embodied cognition audience, covering my framework for diverse intelligence, our use of morphogenesis as a model system for communicating with unconventional minds, and my views on our new MomBot platform and how it helps understand the symmetries between science and agency, and the novel group minds consisting of technology, living matter, and scientists themselves.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Framing Novel Beings
(04:56) Developmental Mind Continuum
(09:40) Memory Beyond Brains
(15:08) Cells Navigating Morphospace
(18:13) Cognitive Light Cones
(22:38) Bioelectric Communication Interface
(29:51) Xenobots and Anthrobots
(35:45) MomBot Embodied AI
(42:47) Applications and Ethical Futures
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org


