Thoughtforms Life

Thoughtforms Life

By Michael LevinScienceEducation
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Thoughtforms Life episodes

  • Conversation with David Resnik 1

    This is a ~52 minute conversation with philosopher David Resnik (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/bioethicist) about the Platonic Space model and our plan for a new paper about a different variant of it than what I've been writing so far.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Morphogenesis and latent space

    (15:19) Platonism's scientific utility

    (27:06) Explanation, models, morphospace

    (36:51) Models, journals, writing

    (43:33) Mathematical patterns in evolution

    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


    53 min
  • Discussion #1 with Elan Barenholtz

    This is a ~57 minute discussion with Elan Barenholtz (https://mpcrlab.com/people/Elan-Barenholtz/) about language and its possible autonomy in brains, AI models, and other systems linking to our lab's work on active data and the thoughts-thinkers continuum.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Language As Auto-Generator

    (21:14) Virtual Governors In Physiology

    (30:37) Mathematics, Metaphysics, Free Lunches

    (40:40) Language Models As Evidence

    (49:46) Minimal Systems, Language Criteria

    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
  • Conversation 1 with Diana Moga, Alexey Tolchinsky, and Chris Fields

    This is a ~52 minute discussion between Diana Moga (https://www.dianamogamd.com/), Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), and I on topics related to autism, ketamine-assisted therapy, and the linking of these concepts to somatic biology.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Ketamine, Trauma, Defining Autism

    (06:12) Trauma, Gender, Autism Models

    (13:14) Autistic Phenomenological Patterns

    (19:23) Autism Neurotypical Continuum Traits

    (24:15) Assessments, Attention, Social Trauma

    (31:25) Opposite Minds, Hyperplasticity

    (38:21) Experiments, Translation, Environments

    (44:51) Dimensionality and Collective Behavior

    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


    53 min
  • Conversation 1 with Nora Belrose: AI, sentience, and Platonic Space

    This is a ~1 hour 5 minute conversation between Nora Belrose (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p_oBc64AAAAJ&hl=en) and me on the topics of consciousness, AI, and different views of the Platonic Space.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Introductions and Moral Risks

    (09:11) Intelligence, Sentience, Irreversibility

    (16:38) Digital Copies and Value

    (24:54) Dynamic Platonic Mindspace

    (35:19) Passable Forms, Cosmic Memory

    (44:06) Changing Forms, Light Cones

    (55:00) LLMs, Goals, Simulation

    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 6 min
  • Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Thomas Pollak 2

    This is a ~1 hour conversation between Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, Center for Professional Psychology, and Thomas Pollak (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-0810), a neuropsychiatrist and researcher working at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. We discussed the implications of rejuvenation therapies for cognition and some strategies for upcoming experiments on Anthrobots.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Rejuvenation, memory, wisdom

    (14:07) Cancer and tissue resilience

    (20:17) Brainwashing, suggestion, belief

    (27:24) Placebo, xenobots, resilience

    (34:46) Patient anthrobot models

    (45:45) Psychiatric phenotypes in cells

    (52:24) Cryogenic reset and organoids

    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
  • Discussion #1 with Chris Fields, Mark Solms, Karl Friston, and Thomas Pollak: introspection & more

    This is a ~1 hour 5 minute working conversation with Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), Mark Solms (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en), Karl Friston (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q_4u0aoAAAAJ&hl=en), and Thomas Pollak (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pollak) starting on the topic of variable degrees of introspection in natural and synthetic agents, and how that looks from the active inference framework, and moves into related topics of application of cognitive plasticity to regenerative biology.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Optimal introspection in agents

    (12:56) Consciousness, feeling, clinical introspection

    (24:44) Controlling preferences and desires

    (35:19) Modifying prior preferences therapeutically

    (42:04) Regeneration, biodomes, cellular priors

    (52:46) Life missions and pathology

    (59:08) Reboots, psychedelics, guided plasticity

    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 6 min
  • "Entropic motivation and the roots of agency"by Alex Kiefer

    This is a ~35 min talk titled "Entropic motivation and the roots of agency" by Alex Kiefer (https://philpeople.org/profiles/alex-kiefer) + ~25 min discussion of the issues of motivation in artificial and natural agents.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Entropy, Motivation, Psychophysical Identity

    (35:45) Willpower, Purpose, Buddhist Motivation

    (45:57) Emergent Goals and Uncertainty

    (58:06) Platonic Patterns and Wrap-up

    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 4 min
  • "Unconventional Embodiments: model systems & strategies addressing mind-blindness" by Michael Levin

    This is a ~45 minute talk for an embodied cognition audience, covering my framework for diverse intelligence, our use of morphogenesis as a model system for communicating with unconventional minds, and my views on our new MomBot platform and how it helps understand the symmetries between science and agency, and the novel group minds consisting of technology, living matter, and scientists themselves.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Framing Novel Beings

    (04:56) Developmental Mind Continuum

    (09:40) Memory Beyond Brains

    (15:08) Cells Navigating Morphospace

    (18:13) Cognitive Light Cones

    (22:38) Bioelectric Communication Interface

    (29:51) Xenobots and Anthrobots

    (35:45) MomBot Embodied AI

    (42:47) Applications and Ethical Futures

    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
  • "Platonic Space: brief argument and research agenda" by Michael Levin

    This is a brief (~17 minute) introduction to my argument about Platonic space in biology, using a 1-page simplified argument format and then a quick overview of the research program entailed by it.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Mathematical facts and patterns

    (01:46) Math explains physical reality

    (04:28) Physicalism and Platonic space

    (06:17) Structured space of patterns

    (07:31) Beyond mathematics, agential patterns

    (10:00) Rehabilitating scientific dualism

    (11:08) Nonbiological hosts for patterns

    (12:33) Patterns, goals, and emergence

    (13:44) Interfaces into Platonic space

    (15:07) Mind–brain equals math–physics

    (16:00) Practical research program outlined

    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


    18 min
  • Against Mind-Blindness: recognizing and communicating with unconventional beings by Michael Levin

    This ~50 minute talk given at a futurism/AI gathering is a variant of my recent talks on diverse intelligence, focusing on ways to expand our perspective via considerations of non-brain-based intelligence in the body, patterns as agents, synthetic beings as model systems for learning to predict and communicate with agents that do not share our selection history, pattern of form and behavior from the latent space, and more.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Expanding concepts of mind

    (15:13) Anatomy as cognitive space

    (20:13) Bioelectric communication and regeneration

    (26:44) Pattern agents and biobots

    (36:57) Mathematical latent mindspace

    (42:33) Platonic minds and machines

    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


    51 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…

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