Thoughtforms Life

By Michael LevinScience Education

Thoughtforms Life episodes

December 19, 2024Novel Bodies, Unconventional Minds: Diverse Intelligence and the Study of Consciousness
This is a ~55 minute talk titled "Novel Bodies, Unconventional Minds: a diverse intelligence perspective on a continuum of cognition (and consciousness)" by Michael Levin given at the CIFAR (https://cifar.ca/next-generation/cifar-neuroscience-of-consciousness-winter-school/) Neuroscience of Consciousness Winter School, + about 20 min of Q&A. My lab doesn't normally work on consciousness per se, but we do a lot of things that are relevant to questions in the philosophy of mind so in this talk I ...
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introduction and Talk Outline
(03:00) Challenging Conventional Categories
(06:00) Unusual Biology and Cell Journey
(12:00) Collective Intelligence and Problem Spaces
(19:00) Morphogenesis Collective Intelligence
(24:00) Bioelectrical Networks and Control
(30:00) Planaria Memory and Regeneration
(34:00) Scale of Self, Cancer
(38:00) Patterns from Platonic Space
(41:00) Novel Life Forms: Xenobots
(48:00) Anthrobots and Beyond
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1 hr 21 min
December 15, 2024Bernardo Kastrup, Richard Watson, and Mike Levin - Conversation
This is a ~1 hour 20 minutes conversation between Bernardo Kastrup (https://www.bernardokastrup.com/), Richatrd Watson (https://www.richardawatson.com/), and me on topics at the intersection of physics, cognition, consciousness, etc.
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1 hr 22 min
December 14, 2024Collective Intelligence of the Body: The Multiscale Architecture of Selves
This is a ~55 minute talk on the topic of the "Multiscale Human" (https://humanatlas.io/events/2024-24h/). I cover the topics of "what are we", "implications for biomedicine", and "future beyond human repair" from the perspectives of diverse intelligence at different scales of our bodies and at scales of evolution, development, and cognition.
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54 min
November 28, 2024Self-Constructing Bodies, Collective Minds: The Intersection of CS, Cognitive Bio, and Philosophy
This is a 1 hour 12 minute talk presented at the 2nd Symposium on the Philosophy of Computing at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. It covers the ways in which biological computation is different from most of today's computer architectures, and concludes with a different way to think about emergence of cognition (not just complexity or unpredictability) in a way that informs how we think about biological and artificial intelligences.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Biology, Computation, Philosophy
(05:50) Unconventional Biological Problem Solving
(13:50) Anatomical Morphospace Navigation
(21:50) Reading Bioelectric Patterns
(31:00) Biology vs. Computing
(36:50) Multi-Scale Competency Architecture
(45:00) Creative Interpretation, Unreliable Hardware
(53:00) Patterns, Machines, Agents
(01:00:00) Latent Space of Patterns
(01:08:00) Exploring Latent Space
(01:15:00) Future of Diverse Intelligence
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The Levin Lab
1 hr 13 min
November 19, 2024Discussion with Martin Hanczyc: Minimal Models of Cognition and Active Matter Research
This is a ~50 minute working meeting between Martin Hanczyc (https://www.martinhanczyc.com/) and Michael Levin, discussing work on autonomous droplets and more generally the field of active and agential matter (physical intelligence, somatic computation, etc.) and conceptual approaches in the field of diverse intelligence. Examples of Martin's work:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37166609
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28985113
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25525912
https://w...
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The Levin Lab
49 min
November 15, 2024A Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Agential Materials for Bioengineering
This is a ~1 hour talk by Michael Levin, given to the bioengineering department at Northeastern University, on the topic of using bioelectricity as an interface for engineering agential materials. Companion papers are:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44222-022-00001-9
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33826908
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55 min
October 14, 2024Aastha Jain Simes & I Interview Denis Noble
This is a ~1 hour interview with the great Denis Noble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble), who made seminal contributions to understanding the heartbeat and went on to contribute exciting and counter-paradigm ideas in physiology, evolutionary theory, causation, and other aspects of biology.
Some of classic Denis Noble writing:
https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/book/the-music-of-life-biology-beyond-genes/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dance-to-the-tune-of-life/721483A1B5BB01E837BC8A843...
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1 hr 10 min
October 14, 2024Embodied Minds: Discovering Diverse Intelligence through the Lens of Biomedicine
This is a ~45 minute talk given at the Imagining Summit (https://www.artificiality.world/the-imagining-summit/) on Diverse Intelligence and synthbiosis, approaching those topics via communication with cellular collectives in the context of regenerative medicine. The newer material is at the end.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Diverse Intelligence and Goals
(02:30) Beyond Discrete Natural Kinds
(06:00) Framework for Diverse Intelligences
(11:00) Scaling Minds, Collective Intelligence
(15:30) Self-Creation of Bodies, Minds
(18:30) Anatomical Order, Compiler Vision
(21:30) Agential Material, Problem Solving
(26:30) Bioelectricity as Cognitive Glue
(31:00) Communicating with Collective Intelligence
(34:30) Regenerating Limbs, Healing Wounds
(37:30) Synthetic Life: Xenobots, Anthropods
(42:30) Interoperability, Novel Agents
(45:30) Humility, Patterns in Media
(49:30) Conclusion: Expanding Sentience Idea
(52:30) Acknowledgements and Funders
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The Levin Lab
47 min
October 08, 2024Discussion with Daniel McShea and Gunnar Babcock
This is ~1 hour conversation with Daniel McShea (https://scholars.duke.edu/person/dmcshea) and Gunnar Babcock (https://gunnarbabcock.com/) on topics of biology, evolution, information, causation, and ethics in the philosophy of mind.
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The Levin Lab
54 min
September 19, 2024The Bioelectric Interface to the Intelligence of the Body: The Future of Biomedicine
This is a ~40 minute talk on the future of medicine from my perspective given remotely to students at the University of Bologna, Italy.
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41 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…