Thoughtforms Life

By Michael LevinScience Education

Thoughtforms Life episodes

March 05 "On Biological and Artificial Consciousness" by Borjan Milinkovic and Jaan Aru
This is a ~53 minute talk + 14 minute Q&A titled "On Biological and Artificial Consciousness: a case for biological computationalism" by Borjan Milinkovic ( and Jaan Aru (
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Speaker background and research
(03:16) Motivation and philosophical landscape
(09:32) Von Neumann architecture
(15:39) Computational metaphor in neuroscience
(22:52) Metabolic constraints in neurons
(29:04) Heterarchy and scale integration
(33:55) Empirical scale integration findings
(38:00) Hybrid computation in dendrites
(43:16) Field-based neural computation
(47:48) Implications for synthetic consciousness
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

54 min
February 05 Platonic Space discussion 3
This is a ~1 hours 44 minute discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Hypothesis (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Platonic forms and interaction
(07:01) Xenobots and evolutionary cost
(11:23) Symbiosis, rectifiers, embeddings
(18:06) Free lunches in biology
(27:59) Topology of competency space
(39:53) Exploration, play, affordances
(48:01) Markov blankets and evolution
(57:51) Relational life and observers
(01:04:10) Defining play and plasticity
(01:20:35) Thermodynamics and domesticated play
(01:29:32) Will to live dynamics
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 45 min
February 04 Conversation with Darren Iammarino #1
This is a ~54 minute conversation with Darren Iammarino (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=YNrxRaYAAAAJ&view_op=list_works) about open problems with respect to the Platonic Space model.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Patterns, minds, and causation
(09:18) Interfaces and positive pressure
(21:50) Randomness and new universals
(31:21) Quantum randomness and scale
(39:16) Cyborg minds and identity
(50:18) Unconventional minds and substrates
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
January 30 "The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis" by Michael Levin
This is a ~57 minute talk titled "The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis: development, regeneration, cancer, and beyond" which I gave at a UCSF seminar for an audience of graduate students and post-docs in Biophysics, Bioinformatics, and Chemical Biology. I covered the role of bioelectricity as cognitive glue underlying high-level adaptive plasticity in living tissue, recent progress in exploiting that interface, and new developments in research platforms for this field.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Framing bioelectricity's role
(09:28) Morphogenesis as goal-directed
(22:45) Bioelectric control of form
(35:10) Rewriting anatomical set points
(43:55) Cancer and aging bioelectricity
(49:36) AI, anthrobots, and outlook
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

59 min
January 21 Discussion #1 at the Platonic Space Symposium
This is a ~1 hour 40 minute discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Hypothesis (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/)
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Math, identity and realms
(16:08) Convergence, abstraction and attractors
(34:05) Attractors, stress and observers
(41:29) Realms, impossibility and simulation
(51:40) Simulation, explanation and understanding
(01:04:39) Mind everywhere and agency
(01:19:19) Content, communication and creativity
(01:30:42) Boundaries, scale and space
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 42 min
January 18 Conversation 1 with Mijail Serruya, Alessandro Napoli, and Wesley Clawson
This is a ~1 hour conversation with (including a short talk by) Mijail Serruya (https://research.jefferson.edu/labs/researcher/serruya-research.html), Alessandro Napoli (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandro-napoli-8383a164/), and Wes Clawson (https://allencenter.tufts.edu/wesley-clawson-staff-scientist/). We talk about brain-body-machine interfaces, the clinical aspects and the deeper conceptual connections.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introductions and BCI vision
(16:32) Platypus-inspired brain augmentation
(24:28) Plasticity, aging, and models
(39:37) Self-organizing neural interfaces
(49:58) Hypnosis, regeneration, and BCIs
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

59 min
January 17 Conversation 1 w/ Lisa Barrett, Ben Lyons, Eli Sennesh, Jordan Theriault-Brown, and Karen Quigley
This is a discussion with with Lisa Feldman Barrett (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WF5c0_8AAAAJ&hl=en), Benjamin Lyons (https://interestingessays.substack.com/), Eli Sennesh (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3z4ALYgAAAAJ), Jordan Theriault-Brown (http://www.jordan-theriault.com/), and Karen Quigley (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aZ3qhVUAAAAJ&hl=en) about topics related to allostasis and top-down control across cognitive science and developmental biology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Framing interdisciplinary synthesis
(03:18) Bioelectric collective intelligence
(16:00) Constraints versus bioelectric memory
(20:06) Neurodevelopment and allostasis
(27:10) Plasticity and dirty genomes
(35:59) Relational structure and constraints
(40:24) Agency across biological scales
(45:04) Goal-like molecular networks
(48:49) Allostasis and control hierarchies
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

56 min
January 15 "Evolution and Intelligence: inversion and a positive feedback spiral" by Michael Levin
This is a ~50 minute video on evolution from the perspective of diverse intelligence. I discuss 3 main things: the nature of the mapping between genotype and phenotype (an intelligent, problem-solving process that interprets genomic prompts, not simply a complex mechanical mapping), the implications for evolution of operating over such a multi-scale agential material, and a few recent findings about the origin of the intelligence spiral taking place before differential replication dynamics kick in.
Editing by https://x.com/DNAMediaEditing
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Framing evolution and intelligence
(06:26) Morphogenesis as collective intelligence
(12:06) Regeneration and downward causation
(16:10) Bioelectric patterning and memory
(21:05) Reprogrammable adaptive anatomies
(26:06) Interpretation, plasticity and evolution
(31:58) Competent matter and evolvability
(35:45) Novel beings and emergence
(41:54) Prebiotic learning and agency
(46:43) Mind beyond life
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
December 11, 2025 “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine”
This is a ~46 minute talk by Michael Levin titled “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine” given at a developmental biology/bioengineering symposium, explaining the connections between the cognitive/behavioral sciences and the study of morphogenesis, from the lens of our framework and new technology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Behavioral Science Foundations
(05:57) Agential Cells And Morphospace
(10:47) Goal Directed Regeneration Examples
(18:16) Bioelectric Pattern Memories
(23:32) Exploring Morphological Plasticity
(31:54) Learning Regeneration And Cancer
(36:10) Novel Bioengineered Living Machines
(41:22) Future Minds And Ethics
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

47 min
December 10, 2025 Discussion #1 with Katrina Schleisman and David Burke
This is a ~54 minute conversation with Katrina Schleisman (https://www.galois.com/team/katrina-schleisman) and David Burke (https://www.galois.com/team/david-burke) about issues related to memory, Platonism, diverse intelligence, and similar topics.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Paper comments and impetus
(01:38) Math-physics causal dualism
(06:19) Unreasonable effectiveness and foundations
(12:54) Active Platonic patterns learning
(19:36) Verbs, affordances, pattern agency
(29:04) Math gifts before evolution
(35:43) Cognition, life, and idealism
(43:21) Hidden messages and memory
(47:42) Resonant patterns, chance, synchronicity
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

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…