New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

Autopoiesis and the Laws of Form with Terry Marks-Tarlow

18 snips
Oct 16, 2025
Terry Marks-Tarlow, a clinical psychologist and author specializing in the intersections of psychology and complexity, dives into the fascinating concepts of autopoiesis and the Laws of Form. She discusses how living systems maintain boundaries while embracing paradox and recursion. The conversation explores the interplay between consciousness and materialism, structural openness, and the emergence of complexity from distinctions. Marks-Tarlow also links these ideas to mysticism and AI, hinting at the potential for self-aware systems.
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INSIGHT

Paradox Generates Time And Novelty

  • Re-entry introduces paradox and thereby yields time and sequential states.
  • Paradox becomes generative rather than a failure of logic in living systems.
INSIGHT

Open Structure, Closed Function

  • Autopoietic systems can be structurally open yet functionally closed.
  • Humans exchange matter and information while preserving identity through dynamic boundaries.
INSIGHT

Ouroboros As Positive Recursion

  • The Ouroboros symbolizes healthy recursion and interconnection, not mere self-consumption.
  • Varela used it to emphasize open, enacted systems that involve environment and observer.
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