I, scientist with Balazs Kegl Glen Reuschling
Oct 8, 2025
Glen Reuschling, a retired electronics engineer, dives deep into the intriguing world of embodied AI and robotics. He discusses why embodied AI lags behind software-driven solutions and the philosophical implications of patterns in existence. The conversation shifts to the nature of randomness, exploring whether it's a conscious choice rather than mere chance. Glen also examines how engineered systems can achieve efficiency akin to insects through nested agency. Their dialogue challenges traditional views on agency, computation, and the design of intelligent systems.
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Free Choice Undermines Strict Determinism
- Accepting free experimental choice in Bell-style theorems breaks strict determinism and Laplace's demon.
- Agent choices can open multiple future-consistent pathways rather than a single predetermined outcome.
Agency Builds Recursively From Tiny Biases
- Tiny primitive agents bias local randomness and then cooperate to form higher-level agents.
- Agency builds recursively by herding lower-level stochastic processes into coordinated behavior.
Treat Accessible Patterns As Physical
- If information obeys physical laws it should be considered part of the physical world.
- Glen suggests expanding 'physical' to include accessible patterns like mathematical structures instantiated in matter.
