Michael Levins Academic ContentThis is a ~25 minute talk and another ~25 minutes of discussion between Benjamin Lyons (benjaminflyons.com) and myself, about his work to understand the commonalities between economics and collective intelligence in biology. Some links mentioned in the discussion:
Prices as Cognitive glue by Benjamin LyonsMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-29 | This is a ~25 minute talk and another ~25 minutes of discussion between Benjamin Lyons (benjaminflyons.com) and myself, about his work to understand the commonalities between economics and collective intelligence in biology. Some links mentioned in the discussion:
Aastha Jain: linkedin.com/in/aasthajs and livelongerworld.comCan we create new senses for humans? by David EaglemanMichael Levins Academic Content2024-10-10 | This is a ~1 hour talk and then Q&A by David Eagleman (https://eagleman.sites.stanford.edu/) about augmented perception in humans and other aspects of the brain/body/technology interface.Discussion with Daniel McShea and Gunnar Babcock 2Michael Levins Academic Content2024-10-08 | This is ~1 hour conversation with Daniel McShea (https://scholars.duke.edu/person/dmcshea) and Gunnar Babcock (gunnarbabcock.com) on topics of biology, evolution, information, causation, and ethics in the philosophy of mind.The Bioelectric Interface to the Intelligence of the Body: the future of biomedicineMichael Levins Academic Content2024-09-19 | This is a ~40 minute talk on the future of medicine from my perspective given remotely to students at the University of Bologna, Italy.Unconventional Cognition Through the Lens of Cellular Collective Intelligence in MorphogenesisMichael Levins Academic Content2024-09-19 | This is a 1 hour 8 minute talk covering topics of collective intelligence in morphogenesis as a model system for thinking about the origin and scaling of cognition in diverse embodiments.The Bioelectric Basis of Morphogenetic Intelligence: a Roadmap for Cancer Medicine by Michael LevinMichael Levins Academic Content2024-09-18 | This is a ~45 minute keynote talk at the Bioelectricity and Cancer conference (cam.cancer.gov/research/bioelectricity_and_cancer_conference.htm) held at NIH in September 2024.The Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis: a model system for basal cognition by Michael LevinMichael Levins Academic Content2024-09-17 | This is a ~1 hour talk on morphogenesis as a collective intelligence and some specifics about cognitive glue.Discussion w/ Kevin MItchell, Nick Cheney, & Ben Hartl on evolution, development, generative modelsMichael Levins Academic Content2024-09-14 | This is a ~1 hour discussion with Kevin Mitchell (kjmitchell.com), Nick Cheney (https://www.uvm.edu/cems/cs/profiles/nick-cheney), and Ben Hartl (https://allencenter.tufts.edu/benedikt-hartl-ph-d/) on the application of connectionist generative models in understanding the role of the genome in evolution and the control of form and function. Links to relevant materials mentioned in the discussion:
In private practice, Dr. Schmidt works with children and adults who exhibit severe and lasting emotional and physical trauma and who present with assorted presentations of PTSD. She has treated both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence since 2010, conducts comprehensive sexual risk assessments for the courts, and offers expert witness testimony as needed. She supervises clinicians at an outpatient treatment center for adjudicated sex offenders, with a combined secondary caseload of approximately 500 clients. Throughout 2022 and 2023, Dr. Schmidt offered a somatically-based treatment program for adolescent offenders at a California Youth Authority detention center, based on a new modality she is developing to target and treat traumatic injury at its’ source. She also offered tools to participants for management and care of their own mental and physical well-being while incarcerated, specifically designed to address the considerable negative effects of incarceration. She is a vocal and committed advocate for dramatic reform of California's jail and prison systems.
Dr. Tolchinsky is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University. He is a clinical fellow of the Neuropsychoanalysis Association. He runs a private practice in psychotherapy, where he specializes in dysregulated anxiety, panic, and trauma treatment. He works with neurodiverse patients and young adults struggling with life transitions. His peer-reviewed work includes papers on acute trauma, integration of chaos theory in psychotherapy, narrative fallacy in psychotherapy, and OCD. He is currently working on a paper about dissociative experiences.Discussion with Richard Watson and Josh Bongard #2Michael Levins Academic Content2024-08-26 | This is a ~1 hour discussion with Richard Watson (richardawatson.com) and Josh Bongard (https://www.uvm.edu/cems/cs/profiles/josh_bongard) touching on topics of agency, polycomputing, oscillations, and evolution.The Timescale Dynamics of Epilepsies: from seconds to decades by Christophe BernardMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-21 | This is a ~1 hour 20 minute talk + Q&A about the neuroscience of epilepsy by Christophe Bernard (https://ins-amu.fr/physionet).Conversation between Josh Bongard, Tom Froese, and I on Irruption Theory, Polycomputing, and minds.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-08-16 | This is a ~1 hour conversation between Josh Bongard (https://www.uvm.edu/cems/cs/profiles/josh_bongard), Tom Froese (oist.jp/research/tom-froese), and I on Irruption theory, polycomputing, and the mind-body relationship. Some relevant links from the discussion:
Eduardo's paper on multiple embodiment: scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=KWCQjl0AAAAJ&citation_for_view=KWCQjl0AAAAJ:9yKSN-GCB0ICConversation between Josh Bongard, Atoosa Parsa, Richard Watson, and IMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-13 | This is a ~50 minute conversation between Josh Bongard (https://www.uvm.edu/cems/cs/profiles/josh_bongard), Atoosa Parsa (atoosaparsa.com), Richard Watson (richardawatson.com), and I on topics of agency, computation, polycomputing, oscillations, selfhood, and similar subjects.Discussion with Tim Jackson, Karl Friston, and Chris FieldsMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-08 | This is a ~1 hour conversation between Tim Jackson (researchgate.net/profile/Timothy-Jackson-4), Karl Friston (fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~karl), Chris Fields (chrisfieldsresearch.com) and I around the free energy principle, philosophy, evolution, and novelty.An Active Inference Model of Collective Intelligence by R. Kaufman, P. Gupta, and J. TaylorMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-07 | This is a ~30 minute talk by Rafael Kaufmann, Pranav Gupta, and Jacob Taylor. There is a 30 minute Q&A here: https://thoughtforms.life/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/QA-from-Gupta-Kaufman-Taylor.mp3 ; the paper referred to is: mdpi.com/1099-4300/23/7/830 Some more relevant links: drive.google.com/file/d/1bX5GK3rZX8RdgmcvXyfpOGEVYbIePMq8/view?usp=sharing https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-sdgs-will-need-action-bonding-and-ritual-lessons-from-collective-intelligence/The Mind of the Body: A Window into Embodiment and our FutureMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-03 | "Metaphysics and the Matter with Things: Thinking with Iain McGilchrist was a collaborative conference put on by the Center for Process Studies (CPS) and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in March of 2024. This three-day conference brought leading process thinkers across various disciplines, including physics, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and theology into critical dialogue with McGilchrist’s work in a collegial effort to assess, question, extend, and apply it. For more information on the conference and to purchase recordings, please visit ctr4process.org/mcgilchrist-conference"Discussion with Daniel McShea and Gunnar Babcock 1Michael Levins Academic Content2024-08-02 | This is ~1 hour conversation with Daniel McShea (https://scholars.duke.edu/person/dmcshea) and Gunnar Babcock (gunnarbabcock.com) on topics of biology, evolution, causation, explanation, and the machine metaphor.Neuroexistentialism, Improvisational Research, and Slow Partying by Joseph DumitMichael Levins Academic Content2024-08-02 | This is ~35 minute talk by Joseph Dumit on some very diverse topics, including Warren McCulloch's work, improvisational science, and the lichen lifestyle. The links to papers he referenced and audio of the Q&A session are here: https://thoughtforms.life/a-few-talks-discussions-links-and-qas/Discussion with Stuart Kauffman and Katherine Peil Kauffman 2Michael Levins Academic Content2024-07-28 | This is a ~1 hour-long discussion meeting with Stuart Kauffman and Katherine Peil Kauffman, covering evolution, machines, metaphors in science, etc.To See a World in a Grain of Sand by Atoosa ParsaMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-27 | This is a ~1 hour talk plus ~30 minutes of Q&A discussion with Atoosa Parsa (atoosaparsa.com) on her fascinating work on polycomputing.Discussion with Ricard SoleMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-23 | This is a ~45 minute discussion with Ricard Sole (http://complex.upf.edu/ricard-sol%C3%A9), a synthetic biologist whose work spans evolution, language, and many other fascinating areas.Natural Language as a Cognitive Computation on Data-compressed grounded symbols by Douglas BrashMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-16 | This is a ~1 hour talk on linguistics and computation by Douglas Brash (https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/douglas-brash/, scholar.google.com/citations?user=QHCv7ZIAAAAJ&hl=en).KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks by Ziming LiuMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-09 | This is a ~1 hour talk about KAN networks, machine learning, physics, and scientific discovery by Ziming Liu of MIT (kindxiaoming.github.io/).The Origins of agency, cognition, and consciousness by Francis Heylighen and Shima BeigiMichael Levins Academic Content2024-07-06 | This is a ~1 hour talk by Francis Heylighen (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html) given at our Center.Economics, deep learning, and basal cognitionMichael Levins Academic Content2024-06-25 | This is a ~45 min discussion with Benjamin Lyons (linkedin.com/in/benjamin-lyons-ab46717a) and David Bloomin (daveey.github.io) on topics at the intersection of economics, basal cognition, and deep learning.Aastha Jain Simes & I interview Ken Robinson, a great figure in developmental Bioelectricity.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-06-10 | This is the second of our series of discussions with key figures in the field of Bioelectricity. Ken Robinson has a long list of accomplishments in this field, covering the role of electric fields in guiding cell migration and more generally the function of electrogenic epithelia in embryogenesis. This is about a ~1 hour conversation in which he talks about his background, the history of the field, and his time in Lionel Jaffe's lab.
The list of bioelectricity references Ken refers to can now be downloaded at the bottom of this blog post: https://thoughtforms.life/my-reference-lists-whole-endnote-library-and-bibliography-on-bioelectromagnetics/
Aastha Jain Simes: aasthajs.com and livelongerworld.comConversation between Donald Hoffman and Richard Watson, #2Michael Levins Academic Content2024-06-06 | Don Hoffman, Richard Watson, and I discuss the nature of scientific theories, time, and the physics of cognition. ~1 hourConversation between Joscha Bach, Chris Fields, and Michael LevinMichael Levins Academic Content2024-06-06 | This is an ~1 hour conversation with Joscha Bach (http://bach.ai) and Chris Fields (chrisfieldsresearch.com), touching on computation, cognition, error correcting codes, physics, AI, consciousness, etc.Structural Coupling: how living systems construct their umwelt by Juan-Carlos LetelierMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-29 | This is a ~20 minute chalk-talk by Juan-Carlos Letelier (scholar.google.com/citations?user=J1zts-cAAAAJ&hl=en), a professor a the Universidad de Chile, at the intersection of neuroscience and the work of Francisco Varela on the foundations of biology.Exploring Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality by Nam Hai Le, from University of Southampton.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-05-26 | This is a ~30 minute talk given in our Center by Nam Hai Le (scholar.google.com/citations?user=waKh7a8AAAAJ&hl=en), a post-doc with Richard Watson (richardawatson.com), with whom we collaborate on issues at the intersection of evolution and cognition. Nam presents some very cool data from his Artificial Life simulation, of emergent larger-scale individuals.Discussion on Mortal Computations with Alexander Ororbia, Karl Friston, and Chris FieldsMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-25 | 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:
Michael Levin's paper to which they referred a couple of times: osf.io/preprints/osf/4b2wjTom Froese and Michael Levin discuss Toms Irruption theoryMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-24 | This is a meeting discussion, ~40 minutes, between Tom Froese (Cognitive Scientist at OIST, 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: mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/4/288Heterogeneity Extends CriticalityMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-23 | A talk by Carlos Gershenson (of SUNY Binghampton), ~42 minutes long, given in our Center.Discussion with Michael Pollan of new ideas on memories and SelvesMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-09 | This is a discussion meeting (~1 hour 20 minutes) between Michael Levin and Michael Pollan (michaelpollan.com) of the new ideas in this paper: osf.io/preprints/osf/4b2wjBiorobotics: engineering with agential materialsMichael Levins Academic Content2024-05-05 | 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).Where Minds Come From: the scaling of collective intelligence, and what it means for AI and youMichael Levins Academic Content2024-04-26 | 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.Aastha Jain Simes & I interview Min Zhao, a leader in the role of bioelectricity in wound healingMichael Levins Academic Content2024-04-25 | 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. scholar.google.com/citations?user=G7-zWBcAAAAJ&hl=en https://health.ucdavis.edu/dermatology/faculty/zhao.html
Aastha Jain: livelongerworld.comA conversation with Alison Hanson on cognitive science and her trajectory in neurobiology.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-04-21 | This is a 1-hour conversation with Ali Hanson (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 thoughtforms.orgCyber Animism by Joscha BachMichael Levins Academic Content2024-04-20 | This is a 1 hour 45 minute talk by Joscha Bach (http://bach.ai) given in our Center.What can worms and frogs teach us about collective intelligence?Michael Levins Academic Content2024-04-10 | 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.Agency at the Very BottomMichael Levins Academic Content2024-04-09 | This is a talk by Benjamin Lyons (~1 hour) on agency within mathematics.The Mortal Computation Thesis by Alexander OrorbiaMichael Levins Academic Content2024-04-06 | This is a ~1 hour talk by Alexander Ororbia (https://www.cs.rit.edu/~ago/) from the Neural Adaptive Computing (NAC) Laboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The related paper is here: arxiv.org/abs/2311.09589Aastha Jain Simes & I interview Richard Nuccitelli, a great figure in developmental Bioelectricity.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-04-03 | 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.
My papers that relate to this topic (mostly arguing that the relativity Cristi points out for computing is prevalent in biology as well): mdpi.com/2313-7673/8/1/110/htm osf.io/preprints/osf/4b2wjConversation between Donald Hoffman and Richard Watson, #1Michael Levins Academic Content2024-03-28 | 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 (richardawatson.com), on evolution, physics, time, and the nature of reality.A discussion between John Vervaeke, Gregg Henriques, Justin McSweeny, and Mike Levin.Michael Levins Academic Content2024-03-16 | This is a ~1 hour 20 minute working meeting conversation between John Vervaeke, Gregg Henriques, Justin McSweeny, and myself; we touch on topics of mind, Selfhood, Platonic spaces, and other ways in which the emerging science of Diverse Intelligence speaks to greater transpersonal issues.Bioelectric networks underlie the collective intelligence of morphogenesisMichael Levins Academic Content2024-03-15 | This is about a ~45 minute talk by me, focusing specifically on parallels between morphogenesis and cognitive/behavioral science (given to a neuroscience audience).