Thoughtforms Life

By Michael LevinScience Education

Thoughtforms Life episodes

May 25, 2024Discussion on Mortal Computations with Alexander Ororbia, Karl Friston, and Chris Fields
This is a 1-hour working meeting discussing Alexander Ororbia's and Karl Friston's paper on Mortal Computations and their relevance to our work in reprogramming biology and cognition more generally. A few papers:
Alexander and Karl's paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09589
Michael Levin's paper to which they referred a couple of times: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/4b2wj
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59 min
May 24, 2024Tom Froese and Michael Levin Discuss Tom's Irruption Theory
This is a meeting discussion, ~40 minutes, between Tom Froese (Cognitive Scientist at OIST, https://groups.oist.jp/ecsu/tom-froese) and Michael Levin, going over Tom's recent paper on Irruption theory and discussing embodied minds, agency, and models of mind-body interaction. The paper is here: https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/4/288
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47 min
May 09, 2024Discussion with Michael Pollan of New Ideas on Memories and Selves
This is a discussion meeting (~1 hour 20 minutes) between Michael Levin and Michael Pollan (https://michaelpollan.com/) of the new ideas in this paper: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/4b2wj
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1 hr 19 min
May 05, 2024Biorobotics: Engineering with Agential Materials
This is an ~1 hour talk by Michael Levin on the topic of engineering with agential (living) materials, given for the students and other members of the ETHZ Zurich Soft Robotics Lab led by Prof. Robert Katzschmann).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introduction: Biorobotics & Materials
(02:20) The Anatomical Compiler
(04:15) Agential Materials & Competency
(07:00) Biological Plasticity Examples
(11:50) Navigating Anatomical Space
(15:00) Beyond Molecular Medicine
(17:40) Intelligence in Development
(21:00) Newt Tubule Plasticity
(24:00) Picasso Tadpole Experiment
(27:00) Pattern Homeostasis & Setpoints
(29:40) Bioelectricity as Interface
(32:00) Reading Electrical Patterns
(34:00) Manipulating Bioelectric Info
(35:40) Bioelectric Organ Triggers
(38:30) Frog Leg Regeneration
(40:00) Planarian Pattern Memory
(43:30) Properties of Memory
(45:00) Modeling Anatomical Decisions
(46:30) Head Shape Plasticity
(49:00) Hacking Plant Morphogenesis
(50:30) Full Stack Modeling
(51:30) Cancer & Cognitive Cone
(54:00) Synthetic Xenobots
(57:30) Human Anthrobots
(59:30) Future of Life Forms
(01:03:00) Summary & Acknowledgements
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56 min
April 26, 2024Where Minds Come From: The Scaling of Collective Intelligence, and What It Means for AI and You
This is a ~45 minute talk I gave to some undergraduate students about ideas from biology that might help them think about AI and related topics.
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56 min
April 25, 2024Aastha Jain Simes & I Interview Min Zhao, a Leader in the Role of Bioelectricity in Wound Healing
This is the second of several interviews we will do with significant contributors to the field of developmental bioelectricity. Min Zhao's work focused on the role of ion currents and applied electric fields in cell migration and wound repair.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=G7-zWBcAAAAJ&hl=en
https://health.ucdavis.edu/dermatology/faculty/zhao.html
Aastha Jain: https://www.livelongerworld.com/
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57 min
April 21, 2024A Conversation with Alison Hanson on Cognitive Science and Her Trajectory in Neurobiology
This is a 1-hour conversation with Ali Hanson (https://braininitiative.nih.gov/ali-hanson-md-phd) on her path in science, including a ~45 minute presentation of her data in Hydra. This is the first of a series of videos I will do to highlight some exceptional junior scientists' work.
More information will be provided on a blog post on Ali's work at https://thoughtforms.org/
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58 min
April 10, 2024What Can Worms and Frogs Teach Us About Collective Intelligence?
This is a talk I gave at a large tech company for non-specialists interested in the intersection of computation, biology, and fundamental questions about Selfhood. It's about 48 minutes long and unfortunately does not capture my cursor movement so you can't see the things on the slides at which I am pointing.
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49 min
April 03, 2024Aastha Jain Simes & I Interview Richard Nuccitelli, a Great Figure in Developmental Bioelectricity
This is the first of several interviews we will do with significant people in the history of developmental bioelectricity. Richard Nuccitelli is a legend, having invented (with Lionel Jaffe, in 1974) the Vibrating Probe - a technique that allowed the non-invasive sensing of ion currents around living tissues. This is about a ~1 hour conversation in which he talks about his background, the history of the field, and his current clinical work on the bioelectrics of cancer.
Richard Nuccitelli: htt...
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1 hr 4 min
March 28, 2024Conversation between Donald Hoffman and Richard Watson
This is a ~1.5 hour discussion between cognitive scientist Don Hoffman (https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/HoffmanPubs.html) and evolutionary biologist/computer scientist Richard Watson (https://www.richardawatson.com/), on evolution, physics, time, and the nature of reality.
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1 hr 24 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…