Thoughtforms Life

By Michael LevinScience Education

Thoughtforms Life episodes

September 13 A conversation with Andrey Vyshedskiy about the evolution of language and brain development
This is a ~1 hour conversation with Andrey Vyshedskiy (https://www.bu.edu/prsocial/profile/andrey-vyshedskiy/) about the evolution of language, brain mechanisms, implications for autism and developmental disorders, and Andrey's work to develop therapeutic approaches.

CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Syntactic language network development
(05:37) Three levels of comprehension
(28:55) Neurobiology of sensitive periods
(36:46) Recognizing the syntactic phenotype
(42:24) Theory of mind mechanisms
(48:51) Future levels of intelligence

PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing

SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

1 hr
September 03 Conversation #1 with Diego Bohórquez and Mijail D. Serruya: how information moves levels in bodies
This is a ~59 minute working meeting where I introduce two very interesting neuroscientists to each other - Diego Bohórquez (https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/diego-v-bohorquez) and Mijail D. Serruya (https://www.jefferson.edu/academics/colleges-schools-institutes/skmc/departments/neurology/faculty/serruya.html) and we discuss ideas around how information moves from the molecular to the behavioral level in bodies and how we might be able to interface with that system via technologies that could lead to biomedical applications and deep insight into diverse intelligence. At the end we discuss one such application briefly - McConnell's professor-burgers.

CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Gut brain biology foundations
(13:28) Neural interfaces and organoids
(26:18) Information across biological levels
(32:41) Environmental sensing and placebo
(47:32) Translating internal biological dialogue
(54:23) Collaborative next steps

PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing

SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

1 hr
August 22 Conversation #1 with Steven Strogatz
This is a ~56 minute conversation with mathematician Steven Strogatz (https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/) covering issues of explanation in mathematics, Platonism, and related questions.

CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Mathematical explanation and AI
(07:28) Reductionism across scientific fields
(11:04) Intuition and mathematical deduction
(18:31) Geometry versus algebraic thinking
(24:32) Euler and negative logarithms
(29:38) Mathematical anomalies and patterns
(36:26) Scale of mathematical constants
(46:55) Nature of fundamental constants
(50:08) Pi beyond simple circles

PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing

SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

57 min
July 29 Conversation #1 with Alexey Tolchinsky, Anthony Weiss and Chris Fields
This is a ~1 hour conversation on the future of mental health from the perspective of the diverse intelligence field, with Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate), Anthony Weiss (https://www.anthonypweiss.com/about-anthony-weiss), and Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Psychiatry's stalled progress
(04:54) Faulty mental models
(11:36) Tools and treatment goals
(24:06) Nonlinear living systems
(31:21) Energy shaping agency
(41:51) Technology entangles minds
(53:08) Effort and agentic models
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

1 hr 2 min
July 28 Conversation #1 with
This is a ~1 hour working meeting with Thomas Pollak (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pollak, https://drtompollak.substack.com/) and David King (https://profiles.stanford.edu/361883, https://breakingconvention.co.uk/performers/dave-king) about the intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and diverse intelligence research.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Agency in psychiatry
(05:14) Mental real estate
(10:31) Internal agency mechanics
(21:43) Dissociation and multiplicity
(30:04) Interfaces and inspiration
(38:43) Signals and prostheses
(48:18) Psychedelics and entities
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

1 hr 1 min
July 10 "Diverse Intelligence: new frontier for Origins, Possibilities, and Diseases of Minds by" M. Levin
This is a ~54 minute talk titled "Diverse Intelligence: a new frontier for Origins, Possibilities, and Diseases of the Mind(s)" which I gave for an audience composed of mental health professionals and neuroscientists.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Roadmap and stakes
(04:13) Minds as continuum
(08:04) Diverse intelligence framework
(11:12) Biological plasticity examples
(18:18) Morphogenesis as intelligence
(22:31) Multiscale cellular agency
(26:39) Anatomical problem solving
(32:40) Ancient bioelectric networks
(35:34) Communicating somatic goals
(42:02) Cancer and medicine
(46:37) Novel living agents
(51:56) Ethics and summary
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

55 min
June 27 "Energy Constraints and Tradeoffs" by Martin Picard
This is a ~57 minute talk titled "Energy Constraints and Tradeoffs: the mitochondrial daily energy expenditure MDEE study" by Martin Picard (https://www.neurology.columbia.edu/profile/martin-picard-phd) and a brief set of ideas by me at the end, presaging a full discussion of this for our next meeting.
I mentioned these 2 papers:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264722001435
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/bies.201900245
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Mitochondria energy tradeoffs
(52:14) Scarcity coordinates biology
(54:44) Anthrobot aging evidence
(56:31) Follow-up ideas
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

57 min
June 26 "Aging, goal-directedness, and bioelectricity" by Michael Levin
This is ~23 minute talk overviewing our recent results and the way we think about aging and longevity. It was for a conference with quite short speaking slots so I had to talk fast... Longer talk coming with more data but this outlines some ideas and overviews our published recent work on aging.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Aging framework overview
(01:16) Bodies as setpoints
(03:08) Anatomical homeostasis examples
(06:40) Bioelectric pattern memory
(08:41) Rewriting biological setpoints
(12:31) Aging bioelectric fuzziness
(14:18) Sharpening brain patterns
(17:34) Cognitive aging hypothesis
(19:42) Atavistic tissue dissociation
(22:21) Species longevity questions
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

24 min
June 22 Computationalism and consciousness with Nic Rouleau, Jaan Aru, and Borjan Milinkovic.
Discussion #2 (57 minutes on computationalism and consciousness) with Borjan Milinkovic (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AwaZbzsAAAAJ&hl=en), Jaan Aru (https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=FvFOzS8AAAAJ&hl=en%29), and Nicolas Rouleau (https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=FyOpVTAAAAAJ&hl=en).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) AI consciousness middle ground
(04:46) Substrate dependent minds
(08:07) Analog computer substrates
(13:44) Zombies and digital computers
(18:56) Polycomputing and observers
(25:01) Felt experience defined
(30:08) Action first embodiment
(34:08) Causal emergence and memory
(42:36) Self versus environment
(46:47) Cognitive light cones
(51:44) Boundary gradients and observers
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

58 min
June 20 Free Lunches: Model Systems for Studying the Agential Gifts from the Platonic Space by Michael Levin
This is a talk I gave, ~49 minutes long, titled "Free Lunches: Model Systems for Studying the Agential Gifts from the Platonic Space", to a philosophy audience. It covers some more ways I think about the latent space of patterns that in-forms biology and cognitive science.
CHAPTERS:
(00:02) Research program overview
(05:15) Dissolving old categories
(10:54) Goal-directed morphogenesis basics
(14:11) Rewriting bioelectric patterns
(19:23) Novel embodied abilities
(23:35) Molecular agency ratchet
(27:33) Math and living forms
(33:31) Evolutionary accounting breaks
(41:04) High agency patterns
(47:01) Diverse intelligence future
PRODUCED BY:
https://aipodcast.ing
SOCIAL LINKS:
Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

50 min

About Thoughtforms Life

From the publisher's feed

A podcast by Professor Michael Levin exploring the frontiers of biology, cognition, and emergence. Engage in conversations about morphogenesis, bioelectricity, and synthetic life — and uncover how…