Thoughtforms Life

This is a ~1 hr10min talk I gave at a conference on modeling aspects of neuroscience. The talk is about the inverse idea - how tools and concepts from neuroscience apply far beyond neurons and brains, and can help understand a lot of biology across development, evolution, and diverse intelligence. I talked about what the symmetry between cognitive science and the study of morphogenesis means for biomedicine and for some questions in behavioral/cognitive science. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour conversation on topics of consciousness, AI, causation, affect, evolution, and philosophy between Gunnar Babcock (https://cals.cornell.edu/gunnar-babcock), Daniel McShea (https://scholars.duke.edu/person/dmcshea), Mark Solms (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en), and I. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour talk with Aaron Sloman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Sloman), Anthony Leggett (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_James_Leggett), and Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/). The links to which Aaron refers are: https://cogaffarchive.org/misc/whatlife.html https://cogaffarchive.org/evol-devol.html CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~55 minute talk titled "Novel Bodies, Unconventional Minds: a diverse intelligence perspective on a continuum of cognition (and consciousness)" by Michael Levin given at the CIFAR (https://cifar.ca/next-generation/cifar-neuroscience-of-consciousness-winter-school/) Neuroscience of Consciousness Winter School, + about 20 min of Q&A. My lab doesn't normally work on consciousness per se, but we do a lot of things that are relevant to questions in the philosophy of mind so in this talk I ... CHAPTERS:(00:00) Introduction and Talk Outline(03:00) Challenging Conventional Categories(06:00) Unusual Biology and Cell Journey(12:00) Collective Intelligence and Problem Spaces(19:00) Morphogenesis Collective Intelligence(24:00) Bioelectrical Networks and Control(30:00) Planaria Memory and Regeneration(34:00) Scale of Self, Cancer(38:00) Patterns from Platonic Space(41:00) Novel Life Forms: Xenobots(48:00) Anthrobots and Beyond CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour 20 minutes conversation between Bernardo Kastrup (https://www.bernardokastrup.com/), Richatrd Watson (https://www.richardawatson.com/), and me on topics at the intersection of physics, cognition, consciousness, etc. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~55 minute talk on the topic of the "Multiscale Human" (https://humanatlas.io/events/2024-24h/). I cover the topics of "what are we", "implications for biomedicine", and "future beyond human repair" from the perspectives of diverse intelligence at different scales of our bodies and at scales of evolution, development, and cognition. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a 1 hour 12 minute talk presented at the 2nd Symposium on the Philosophy of Computing at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. It covers the ways in which biological computation is different from most of today's computer architectures, and concludes with a different way to think about emergence of cognition (not just complexity or unpredictability) in a way that informs how we think about biological and artificial intelligences. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Biology, Computation, Philosophy(05:50) Unconventional Biological Problem Solving(13:50) Anatomical Morphospace Navigation(21:50) Reading Bioelectric Patterns(31:00) Biology vs. Computing(36:50) Multi-Scale Competency Architecture(45:00) Creative Interpretation, Unreliable Hardware(53:00) Patterns, Machines, Agents(01:00:00) Latent Space of Patterns(01:08:00) Exploring Latent Space(01:15:00) Future of Diverse Intelligence CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~50 minute working meeting between Martin Hanczyc (https://www.martinhanczyc.com/) and Michael Levin, discussing work on autonomous droplets and more generally the field of active and agential matter (physical intelligence, somatic computation, etc.) and conceptual approaches in the field of diverse intelligence. Examples of Martin's work: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37166609 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28985113 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25525912 https://w... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~45 minute talk given at the Imagining Summit (https://www.artificiality.world/the-imagining-summit/) on Diverse Intelligence and synthbiosis, approaching those topics via communication with cellular collectives in the context of regenerative medicine. The newer material is at the end. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Diverse Intelligence and Goals(02:30) Beyond Discrete Natural Kinds(06:00) Framework for Diverse Intelligences(11:00) Scaling Minds, Collective Intelligence(15:30) Self-Creation of Bodies, Minds(18:30) Anatomical Order, Compiler Vision(21:30) Agential Material, Problem Solving(26:30) Bioelectricity as Cognitive Glue(31:00) Communicating with Collective Intelligence(34:30) Regenerating Limbs, Healing Wounds(37:30) Synthetic Life: Xenobots, Anthropods(42:30) Interoperability, Novel Agents(45:30) Humility, Patterns in Media(49:30) Conclusion: Expanding Sentience Idea(52:30) Acknowledgements and Funders CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour interview with the great Denis Noble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble), who made seminal contributions to understanding the heartbeat and went on to contribute exciting and counter-paradigm ideas in physiology, evolutionary theory, causation, and other aspects of biology. Some of classic Denis Noble writing: https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/book/the-music-of-life-biology-beyond-genes/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dance-to-the-tune-of-life/721483A1B5BB01E837BC8A843... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab