Thoughtforms Life Discussion with Daniel McShea and Gunnar Babcock
Oct 8, 2024
Gunnar Babcock, philosopher of cognition and emergence, and Daniel McShea, evolutionary biologist and philosopher, explore mathematical affordances, memory, and top-down causation. They discuss succession and niche construction, problem-solving versus preprogramming, agencies and motivational architectures, ethical risks of scaling minimal minds, and rethinking life as a continuum.
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Math May Transcend Physicalist Knobs
- Debates about platonism vs physicalism shape how we view mathematical constraints on biology.
- Levin argues some mathematical truths are independent of physical knob-setting, nudging toward non-physicalist perspectives.
Bow-Tie Steps Need Top-Down Causation
- Both compression and inflation steps of bow-tie processes require top-down causation.
- McShea insists ecology and development each invoke higher-level fields or selection shaping lower-level outcomes.
Generic Policies Solve Novel Problems
- Generic problem-solving strategies can explain robust recovery in novel environments.
- Michael Levin points to principles like maximizing future options (empowerment) rather than specific preprogrammed solutions.