Thoughtforms Life

This is an ~1 hour talk by Michael Levin on the topic of engineering with agential (living) materials, given for the students and other members of the ETHZ Zurich Soft Robotics Lab led by Prof. Robert Katzschmann). CHAPTERS:(00:00) Introduction: Biorobotics & Materials(02:20) The Anatomical Compiler(04:15) Agential Materials & Competency(07:00) Biological Plasticity Examples(11:50) Navigating Anatomical Space(15:00) Beyond Molecular Medicine(17:40) Intelligence in Development(21:00) Newt Tubule Plasticity(24:00) Picasso Tadpole Experiment(27:00) Pattern Homeostasis & Setpoints(29:40) Bioelectricity as Interface(32:00) Reading Electrical Patterns(34:00) Manipulating Bioelectric Info(35:40) Bioelectric Organ Triggers(38:30) Frog Leg Regeneration(40:00) Planarian Pattern Memory(43:30) Properties of Memory(45:00) Modeling Anatomical Decisions(46:30) Head Shape Plasticity(49:00) Hacking Plant Morphogenesis(50:30) Full Stack Modeling(51:30) Cancer & Cognitive Cone(54:00) Synthetic Xenobots(57:30) Human Anthrobots(59:30) Future of Life Forms(01:03:00) Summary & Acknowledgements CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~45 minute talk I gave to some undergraduate students about ideas from biology that might help them think about AI and related topics. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is the second of several interviews we will do with significant contributors to the field of developmental bioelectricity. Min Zhao's work focused on the role of ion currents and applied electric fields in cell migration and wound repair. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=G7-zWBcAAAAJ&hl=en https://health.ucdavis.edu/dermatology/faculty/zhao.html Aastha Jain: https://www.livelongerworld.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a 1-hour conversation with Ali Hanson (https://braininitiative.nih.gov/ali-hanson-md-phd) on her path in science, including a ~45 minute presentation of her data in Hydra. This is the first of a series of videos I will do to highlight some exceptional junior scientists' work. More information will be provided on a blog post on Ali's work at https://thoughtforms.org/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a talk I gave at a large tech company for non-specialists interested in the intersection of computation, biology, and fundamental questions about Selfhood. It's about 48 minutes long and unfortunately does not capture my cursor movement so you can't see the things on the slides at which I am pointing. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is the first of several interviews we will do with significant people in the history of developmental bioelectricity. Richard Nuccitelli is a legend, having invented (with Lionel Jaffe, in 1974) the Vibrating Probe - a technique that allowed the non-invasive sensing of ion currents around living tissues. This is about a ~1 hour conversation in which he talks about his background, the history of the field, and his current clinical work on the bioelectrics of cancer. Richard Nuccitelli: htt... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1.5 hour discussion between cognitive scientist Don Hoffman (https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/HoffmanPubs.html) and evolutionary biologist/computer scientist Richard Watson (https://www.richardawatson.com/), on evolution, physics, time, and the nature of reality. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour 20 minute working meeting conversation between John Vervaeke, Gregg Henriques, Justin McSweeny, and myself; we touch on topics of mind, Selfhood, Platonic spaces, and other ways in which the emerging science of Diverse Intelligence speaks to greater transpersonal issues. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is about a ~45 minute talk by me, focusing specifically on parallels between morphogenesis and cognitive/behavioral science (given to a neuroscience audience). CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a 30 minute talk on Hopfield networks solving propositional satisfiability problems, by N. Weber, W. Koch, O. Erdem, and T. Froese (from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan), followed by a 30 minute discussion of potential applicability of this technique to linking the beliefs and preferences of an agent to a controller that can be used to implement them behaviorally. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab