Jack Roycroft-Sherry

Benjamin Lyons works on issues of collective intelligence within economics, biology & mathematics. We typically think that agency can only be found in brains and organisms like us. But what if we could find agency in something as fundamental as mathematics? Or in something as large and distributed as an economy? In this podcast expect to learn about how agency can be seen in mathematics, about the hidden competencies within mathematics, whether we should be suprised by level of intelligence found in biology, the economy as a cognitive system, and more... Timestamps: 00:00 - Even Mathematics Has Agency 02:16 - The Role of Choice in Mathematics 05:47 - Hidden Competencies in Mathematics 09:20 - Implications for Biological Systems 34:39 - The Economy as a Collective Intelligence System 44:49 - The Role of the Price System in Collective Intelligence 48:57 - Understanding Self-Interest in Economics 51:40 - The Function of Money in the Economy 55:54 - The Importance of Mainstream Economics 01:00:31 - Closing Remarks Find Benjamin -Website: https://benjaminflyons.com -Agency in Mathematics talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tT0pFAE36c&t=231s -Talk with Michael Levin: https://youtu.be/0Oo4ng6dWrQ?si=4fuTiAQ9vDdH9D5X

Randy Ellis is a biologist and computational biologist. It's been a few decades since cases of fraud in psychology began science's "replication crisis". What has happened since then? What problems remain? And what does the future hold? In this podcast, expect to learn about fraud in science, the misincentives in science that lead to too many positive results, why replication has proven difficult in science, ways science's problems could be fixed, and more... Timestamps: 00:00 The Replication Crisis in Science 08:08 Why Are Replication Rates So Bad? 16:13 Fraud in Science 23:32 Confirmation Bias From Scientists Meta-Science and Improving Scientific Practices 27:54 Enhancing Credibility and Reproducibility in Science 43:30 Future of Science 47:14 Problems in Clinical Trials 53:04 Problems of Citation Metrics Find Randy: randalljellis.github.io

Juensung Kim is a cognitive scientist. Cultures have used magical practices for millennia. Are they real? Do they work? What even is magic? This podcast explores the cognitive underpinnings of magic, providing a scientific perspective on such ancient wisdom. In this podcast, expect to learn about the cognitive machinery that allows for magic to work, how divination and fortune-telling could be explained scientifically, the study of the mind and imagination, the dangers of psychedelics and insight, and more. Timestamps: 00:00 What Really is Magic? 09:04 Imagination vs Perception vs Reality 17:29 Intelligence of the Ancients (What counts as knowledge?) 21:27 Pattern Recognition and Fortune Telling 24:47 AI vs Human Intelligence 30:40 Mental Time Travel and Origins of Science and Magic 34:11 Understanding the World and Developing a Relationship 42:00 The Problem of Psychedelics 48:50 Awe and Vastness Experiences

Zack Baker is a writer and researcher who works with Center Studies. Humans are unique: we have language, money, and culture. How did we get here? And what might the future look like? In this podcast, expect to learn about how civilization got off the ground, a theory of how language could have emerged, why humans have a unique ability to defer violence, the role of religion and the sacred, the future of money and politics, and more... Timestamps: 00:00 Center Studies' Radical Hypothesis on Human Nature 05:59 Humans' Unique Capacity for Shared Attention 10:18 The Emergence of Language 17:25 How Civilization Defers Violence Through Language 25:37 Religion, Liberalism, Planetary Governance 27:10 Long-Term Projects and Meaningful Human Teams 32:02 Jesus Christ and a Post-Sacrificial World 33:26 Inventing New Ways of Thinking and Speaking 38:02 Fiat Currency and the End of Money 44:31 Future of Currency and Civilization Find Zack -twitter: @zackabaker Find Center Studies -twitter: @centerstudy_ -website: https://centerstudycenter.xyz/

Mathew Segall is a philosopher and writer of the popular blog Footnotes2Plato. Science must always make philosophical and metaphysical assumptions. What are these? What really is science, how does it compare to philsophy and religion, and how might it radically change in the future? Expect to learn about how radical science becomes philosophical, how religion cannot be separated from science, how Whitehead's process philosophy could help science's mind-body problem, the role of psychedelics and mystical states in gaining scientific insights, and more. Timestamps: 00:00 Science vs Philosophy 09:25 Why Science Can't Ignore Human Experience 14:08 Science vs Religion 21:32 Metaphysical and Theological Dimensions of Economics 34:11 Egregores and Spirits 40:25 Whitehead's Process Philosophy 46:45 Panpsychism and Mind in Science 53:30 How Michael Levin Changed His Views on Agency 59:19The Potential Impact of Psychedelics on Science and Philosophy Find Matthew: -X: @ThouArtThat -Substack: https://footnotes2plato.substack.com/ -Blog: https://footnotes2plato.com/

Kenneth Michael Florence is a writer, artist, and musician. An egregore is the concept in Western esotericism of a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a group of individuals. Is the concept useful for describing collective entities like economies, corporations and nations in today's world? Are collective entities reducible to the psychic, or is there more to them? In this podcast expect to learn about whether collective beings are conscious, the relationship between personhood and souls, Carl Jung's collective unconscious in relation to spiritual realities, how Rudolf Steiner's four domains of reality help us understand egregores, understanding AI in spiritual terms, and more... 00:00 Kenneth's Article on Egregores 07:13 Are Collective Entities Conscious? 12:44 Personhood and Identity 21:13 Carl Jung's Higher Self and Psychic Realities 28:25 Psyche vs. Spirit (Can Spirits Be Reduced to Psyche?) 38:54 Rudolf Steiner's Four Domains of Reality 47:35 Egregores as Headless Beings 01:00:20 Spiritual Realities Non-Reducible to the Material 01:05:18 AI as an Astral Entity Susceptible to Spirits Find Kenneth Egregores article: https://thesymbolicworld.com/content/the-symbolic-world-vs-egregores-part-1 Website: https://www.kennethmichaelflorence.com/bio Substack: https://kennethmichaelflorence.substack.com/

Wesley Clawson is a neuroscientist working with Michael Levin at Tufts University. What happens when you merge two organisms together? What happens when you merge organisms with AI? This podcast explores the growing field of synthetic and artificial biology—biology that doesn't exist naturally. Expect to learn about the future of human-technology hybrids, the implications of artificial biology for medicine, the goal-directedness of biology, the limits of biological intelligence, evolution, and more... Timestamps: 00:00 Endless Forms Most Beautiful Paper with Dr. Levin 05:28 Fusion of Biology and Technology 10:02 Biology Merged with AI 13:42 How Synthetic Organisms Change Our Understanding of Biology 25:00 Trying to Understand Natural Selection in Light of Synthetic Organisms 28:16 Natural Selection & Collective Intelligences 33:19 The Benefits and Dangers of Synthetic Organisms 43:35 Technology and Cyborgs 48:08 Future of Human-Technology Fusions Find Wesley: X:  @wesleyclawson6891  Website: https://www.wesleyclawson.com/ Papers Mentioned: -Endless Formles Most Beautiful: https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/139/4/457/6643577?login=false -Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2022.768201/full

Patrick Schotanus is an academic developing his Market Mind Hypothesis, a theory that uses cognitive science and philosophy to understand the market as a form of collective consciousness. We often hear the term "the mind of the market" to describe the wild emotions, fears, and animal spirits driving market behavior. Is this just a metaphor? Or is there a deeper truth in understanding economics as a kind of mind? Expect to learn about consciousness in the economy, how cognitive science can be applied to economics, the importance of creativity and discovery in economics, the nature of consciousness in collective entities, and more... Timestamps: 00:00 The Market Mind Hypothesis 06:19 The Role of Consciousness in Economics 12:38 Mind-Body Problem in Economics 17:37 Why We Must Have Economics Education From a Young Age 20:52 What Does the Market Being Conscious Mean? 28:12 The Market as a Distributed Cognitive System 33:36 The Influence of Money on Perception and Values 40:06 The Importance of Free Markets and Transparency 42:23 Does the Economy Change Who We Are? 52:03 The Future of the Market Mind Hypothesis Patrick and the Market-Mind Hypothesis: -Youtube: @marketmindhypothesis7363 -Website: marketmind.org

Michael Levin is a cognitive scientist and biologist at Tufts University. Conventional biology posits that most of biology's competence and intelligence are encoded in DNA. But what if there is much more to biology? In this podcast, learn about how the DNA-only view of biology is crumbling, the means of information encoding beyond DNA, the reinterpretive nature of memory, the inherent goal-directedness of biology, and how biology leverages innate intelligent capacities across all scales. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - What is Wrong With DNA-Centric Biology 04:25 - Re-Understanding Cancer and New Approaches to Biology 10:44 - How Biological Collectives Remain Together and Innate Problem-Solving 12:48 - Memory and Platonic Spaces: Why Are Biological Patterns Stored? 17:28 - Butterfly-Caterpillar Memory Transmutation 23:03 - Evolvability and Goal-Directedness Across Different Levels of Evolution 27:22 - Emergent Goal-Directedness and Surprising System Properties Find Michael and His Lab's Work: -X: @drmichaellevin  -Youtube:  @drmichaellevin  Levin Lab Podcasts: -Hananel Hazan: Computation in Biology: https://youtu.be/4iR6lVxioHs -Randy Ellis: Intelligence, Causality, Metascience: https://youtu.be/hJaMtYcJQIM -Juanita Mathews: Cancer and Collective Intelligence: https://youtu.be/Dh89CfYUmgM

Nicholas Van Dam is a neuroscientist and the inaugural Director of the Contemplative Studies Centre. Meditative practices have been around for millennia. However, it is only recently that have we studied them scientifically. What does science say about them? Moreover, what does the study of them reveal about science itself? In this podcast, we discuss the recent scientific study of meditation, the problems encountered, how meditation can benefit people but also what the dangers are, neuroscience and our current understanding of the mind, and more... Find Nicholas -The Contemplative Studies Centre: https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC -Nicholas' Website: https://www.nicholastvandam.com/ Timestamps: 00:00 - Interesting History of Science and Meditation 06:36 - Challenges Studying Meditation 11:16 - Placebo in Meditation 17:34 - Problems in How We Practice Medicine 21:22 - Meditation Benefits and Challenges 24:33 - Challenges of Studying the Brain 32:00 - Bringing Together Different Disciplines