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This is a way-making research conversation with Prof. Richard A. Watson of the University of Southhampton (Institute for Life Sciences/ Department of Computer Science, Agents, Interaction and Complexity group). You can watch the video here. We discuss the traditional ideas of adaptation and a Richard Dawkins style approach to Darwinism and then how this might be reimagined, as Richard Watson is doing in his work. We also discuss what it means to be an individual . Are love and logic opposites? How might we dance with a music that is both scientific and personal?

For Songs of Life: https://youtu.be/zdmY6q2ZWm8?feature=shared

Richard Watson’s personal website.

Compositional Evolution

Publications.

Conversations with Chris Fields and Michael Levin.

Master thesis that Richard kindly mentions.

Valencia Event

Video of the Conversation, in case you want to see the moment at the end where he shows us love on the wall.

Biography of Richard Watson:
"Dr Richard Watson studies evolution, learning, cognition and society and their unifying algorithmic principles. He studied Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Systems at Sussex University, then PhD Computer Science at Brandeis in Boston. His current work deepens the unification of evolution and learning - specifically, with connectionist models of learning and cognition, familiar in neural network research – to address topics such as evolvability, ecological memory, evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs), phenotypic plasticity, the extended evolutionary synthesis, collective intelligence and 'design'. He has also developed new computational methods for combinatorial optimisation (deep optimisation), exploiting a unification of deep learning and ‘deep evolution’ (i.e. ETIs). He is author of "Compositional evolution" (MIT Press), was featured as "one to watch in AI” in Intelligent Systems magazine, and his paper “How Can Evolution Learn” in TREE, attracted the ISAL award 2016. He is now Associate Professor at the University of Southampton."

Google Scholar

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Full intro and notes here.

Care is not the opposite of love. It is the very urge of life. 'Caring for what?' is the primary question. That we have a choice about what we care for and how is what makes us human, but it's quite the challenge and responsibility. Let's help one another handle it.

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