This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University, Director of the Allen Discovery Center, and one of the world's leading researchers in developmental biology, regeneration, bioelectricity, and collective intelligence.

Michael argues that cognition may be more fundamental than biology itself. Rather than viewing life as the origin of intelligence, he suggests that life is one particularly effective way of hosting broader cognitive patterns that extend far beyond conventional biological systems.

We explore what makes life, life, what humanity still needs to discover in order to better understand the "flame" of life, and how regenerative medicine and freedom of embodiment may reshape the future of intelligence and the living process.

The interview is the first installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Michael Levin - Unfolding New Paradigms of Posthuman Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 7): https://danfaggella.com/levin1
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding/
-- Timur Kuran, Private Truths, Public Lies
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674707580
-- John Vervaeke, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis"
https://johnvervaeke.com/series/awakening-from-the-meaning-crisis/
-- Multi-Scale Longevity: Defeating Aging from Cells to Embodied Human Minds, and the Future of the Species - Leo Pio-Lopez & Michael Levin: https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202602.1770.v1

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZsGNYjH14

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/levin2

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Hod Lipson, Professor of Engineering at Columbia University and one of the world's leading researchers in robotics, machine self-modeling, and artificial intelligence.

Hod argues that intelligence is not a single destination, but an expanding landscape of possibilities. Rather than asking whether machines can perform human tasks, he asks a deeper question: what happens when machines begin to understand themselves as agents acting within the world?

We explore self-modeling as a possible foundation for consciousness, why increasingly capable AI systems may inevitably turn their attention inward as well as outward, and what it might mean for humanity to co-evolve alongside emerging posthuman intelligences rather than attempt to permanently constrain them.

The interview is the thirty-second installment of The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Henry Shevlin – The Life Force Beyond Biology (Worthy Successor, Episode 31): https://danfaggella.com/shevlin1/
-- Aza Raskin – Why AGI Demands New Global Coordination (AGI Governance, Episode 12): https://danfaggella.com/raskin1/
-- Michael Levin – Unfolding New Paradigms of Posthuman Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 7): https://danfaggella.com/levin1/

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RYW1DGmFs4I

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/lipson1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai 

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Henry Shevlin, philosopher of cognitive science and AI ethicist at the University of Cambridge.

In this conversation, Henry argues that many of the qualities we associate with life, intelligence, and moral value may not be confined to humans-or even to biology itself. As AI systems become increasingly agentic and autonomous, he suggests we may need to rethink some of our most fundamental assumptions about minds, consciousness, agency, and what kinds of beings deserve moral consideration.

We talk about machine consciousness, animal minds, animacy, social AI, the future of intelligence, and what it would mean for life to flourish beyond humanity.

The interview is the thirty-first installment of The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- John Smart – Evolution from Cells to Super-intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 21): https://danfaggella.com/smart1/
-- Nick Bostrom – AGI That Saves Room for Us (Worthy Successor, Episode 1): https://danfaggella.com/bostrom1/
-- Peter Singer – Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10): https://danfaggella.com/singer1/
-- Henry’s paper: Three frameworks for AI mentality - https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/f68213ab-908e-4363-a65f-b2ef68f0327d

Books mentioned by Henry:
-- Solaris by Stanisław Lem: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/95558.Solaris
-- Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135479.Cat_s_Cradle

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q2z0I8xZrFo

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/shevlin1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Benjamin Bratton, Professor of Philosophy of Technology at UC San Diego and Director of Antikythera.

In this conversation, Benjamin argues that intelligence is not exclusively human or biological, but a planetary-scale process shaped by technology, evolution, and complex systems. We talk about planetary intelligence, machine cognition, Gaia, AI governance, and humanity’s role in the future trajectory of life.

The interview is our thirtieth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Potentia and Potestas: Achieving The Goldilocks Zone of AGI Governance: https://danfaggella.com/potestas/
-- Blaise Agüera y Arcas – AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14): https://danfaggella.com/arcas1/
--Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence, by James Lovelock: https://books.google.co.za/books?id=yOoCEAAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
-- A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brain, by Max Bennett: https://books.google.co.za/books/about/A_Brief_History_of_Intelligence.html?id=G99UzwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
-- The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty, by Benjamin H. Bratton: https://books.google.co.za/books?id=dEGdCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
-- The Terraforming, by Benjamin H. Bratton: https://books.google.pt/books?id=ysknzAEACAAJ

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OHzwgX793bs

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/bratton1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai 

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Terrence Deacon, an emeritus professor of cognitive science and anthropology from UC Berkeley.

In this conversation, Terrence argues that current large language models are not living or meaning-making systems, but statistical models built from human-generated text. He describes them as a “deep fake” of intelligence because they can convincingly simulate language without wanting, knowing, or caring about what is true.

We talk about symbolic communication, large language models, teleodynamics, embodiment, and why he sees living systems as fundamentally different from today’s AI systems.

The interview is our twenty-ninth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter: Terrence William Deacon - https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Incomplete_Nature.html?id=Pp-MuQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XUZ6MlNZAcc

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/deacon1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai 

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Vincent C. Müller, Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Ethics of AI at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg.

In this conversation, Vincent discusses how artificial intelligence has changed in recent years, particularly the development of large language models and the increasing role of deep learning.

We talk about how deep learning has overtaken other areas of AI research and how investment in the field has increased significantly. We examine the limitations Vincent sees in current systems, including challenges related to interaction with the physical world and coordination between different capabilities. We also examine the question Vincent raises about the direction of AI development and what goals it should serve.

The interview is our twenty-eighth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bci8dcJvUpk

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/muller1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Lee Spector, a professor at Amherst College and a researcher in evolutionary computation, whose work applies concepts like variation and selection to the development of intelligent systems.

We talk about how evolutionary processes challenge fixed notions of species and continuity over time, and why future forms of intelligence may be difficult to understand from a present-day human perspective. 

The interview is our twenty-seventh installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dz9shBWdtjI

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/spector1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This is an interview with Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and co-founder of the Earth Species Project. His work has focused on the societal impacts of technology systems and how incentives shape large-scale human behavior.

In this episode, Aza frames AGI governance as part of a broader pattern: when technology confers new forms of power, it creates races to exploit that power - and without coordination, those races tend toward harmful outcomes. The implications of AI, in his view, extend beyond technical risk into the manipulation of language, relationships, and the very substrate of human coordination.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Craig Mundie – Co-Evolution with AI: Industry First, Regulators Later (AGI Governance, Episode 8): https://danfaggella.com/mundie1/

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UF9geTZpG5A

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/raskin1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Ben Goertzel, founder of SingularityNET and one of the earliest and most persistent thinkers in artificial general intelligence, with decades of work spanning AI architectures, decentralized systems, and philosophical perspectives on intelligence.

We talk about how early exposure to science fiction, philosophy, and psychedelics shaped Ben’s cosmic orientation toward intelligence. We examine his vision for a decentralized “primordial soup” of AGI systems, and why he believes cooperation among diverse intelligences may outcompete centralized, adversarial models.

The interview is our twenty-sixth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Robin Hanson – Adapt or Vanish: The Future Won’t Wait for Us (Worthy Successor, Episode 16): https://danfaggella.com/hanson1/

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b6q3ppo4D4w

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/goertzel2

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

This installment of the Worthy Successor series features Luciano Floridi, John K. Castle Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University and Director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale. Luciano is widely recognized as one of the leading philosophers studying the ethical and civilizational implications of digital technology.

In this conversation, we explore Luciano’s philosophy of the infosphere and the ethical framework he calls informational ethics. We examine how new forms of agency are emerging in digital systems, and what it means for humanity to share its environment with entities that act within informational space.

The interview is our twenty-fifth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.

This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Peter Singer – Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10) : https://danfaggella.com/singer1/
-- Sextus Empiricus: The Transmission and Recovery of Pyrrhonism (Society for Classical Studies American Classical Studies) - Luciano Floridi: https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Sextus_Empiricus_The_Transmission_and_Re.html?id=0eS8LC7fqgMC&hl=en&redir_esc=y

Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0ExWk5H02hM

See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/floridi1

...

About The Trajectory:

AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?

From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.

Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle

Stay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai