Thoughtforms Life

Conversation of Michael Levin with Iain McGilchrist

Jan 27, 2023
Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, writer and philosopher known for work on brain lateralization, discusses attention, meaning, and how the brain’s hemispheres shape experience. They explore origins of lateralization, bioelectric signaling across scales, memory versus present experience, and how different hemispheric ways of knowing affect continuity, identity, and science’s search for meaning.
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ANECDOTE

Slime Mold Hydraulic Computation

  • Levin describes a slime mold assay where rhythmic tugging and sensed strain lead it to choose heavier masses.
  • He links branching flow control to a hydraulic computation with selectable biomechanical junctions.
INSIGHT

Tissue 'Memories' Guide Regeneration

  • Planarian tissues hold stable bioelectrical pre-patterns that encode anatomical targets like head number.
  • Levin rewrites those patterns pharmacologically to change regenerative outcomes without genetic change.
INSIGHT

Reference Patterns Trump Genes

  • Cells interpret bioelectric reference patterns to decide which organs to build downstream.
  • Changing the reference pattern makes the same genome produce radically different morphologies, even cross-species heads.
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