Thoughtforms Life

This is a ~45 minute talk given at the Imagining Summit (https://www.artificiality.world/the-imagining-summit/) on Diverse Intelligence and synthbiosis, approaching those topics via communication with cellular collectives in the context of regenerative medicine. The newer material is at the end. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Diverse Intelligence and Goals(02:30) Beyond Discrete Natural Kinds(06:00) Framework for Diverse Intelligences(11:00) Scaling Minds, Collective Intelligence(15:30) Self-Creation of Bodies, Minds(18:30) Anatomical Order, Compiler Vision(21:30) Agential Material, Problem Solving(26:30) Bioelectricity as Cognitive Glue(31:00) Communicating with Collective Intelligence(34:30) Regenerating Limbs, Healing Wounds(37:30) Synthetic Life: Xenobots, Anthropods(42:30) Interoperability, Novel Agents(45:30) Humility, Patterns in Media(49:30) Conclusion: Expanding Sentience Idea(52:30) Acknowledgements and Funders CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour interview with the great Denis Noble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble), who made seminal contributions to understanding the heartbeat and went on to contribute exciting and counter-paradigm ideas in physiology, evolutionary theory, causation, and other aspects of biology. Some of classic Denis Noble writing: https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/book/the-music-of-life-biology-beyond-genes/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dance-to-the-tune-of-life/721483A1B5BB01E837BC8A843... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

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.

This is a ~40 minute talk on the future of medicine from my perspective given remotely to students at the University of Bologna, Italy. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

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. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Diverse Intelligence Framework(12:00) Morphogenesis Problem Solving(22:00) Bioelectric Pattern Memory(34:30) Exploring Latent Space CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~45 minute keynote talk at the Bioelectricity and Cancer conference (https://cam.cancer.gov/research/bioelectricity_and_cancer_conference.htm) held at NIH in September 2024. CHAPTERS:(00:00) What is Cancer?(13:00) Cognitive Light Cone & Cancer(18:00) Bioelectric Layer: Cognitive Glue(23:00) Bioelectricity in Cancer(28:00) Tools: Imaging & Control(32:00) Bioelectric Diagnostics & Induction(37:00) Suppressing Cancer Bioelectrically(42:00) Roadmap and Future Directions(46:00) Conclusion & Acknowledgements CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour talk on morphogenesis as a collective intelligence and some specifics about cognitive glue. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Intro: Diverse Intelligence Overview(01:40) Discrete Kinds vs Continuum(03:50) Intelligence in Novel Spaces(06:00) Cells as Collective Intelligence(09:30) Morphogenesis and Agential Material(12:30) Defining Intelligence: Perturbations(17:00) Tadpole Metamorphosis Intelligence(19:30) Anatomical Homeostasis & Setpoints(21:30) Bioelectricity: Cognitive Glue(23:30) Ancient Bioelectric Networks(25:30) Reading Bioelectric Patterns(27:30) Manipulating Bioelectric States(30:00) Bioelectric Control of Organs(33:00) Planaria Pattern Memory(35:44) Two-Headed Worms & Memory(37:30) Exploring Anatomical Morphospace(40:00) Diverse Intelligence: Cognitive Light Cone(42:00) Cancer: Breakdown Collective Intelligence(44:00) Origin of Goals & Individuality(45:30) Mechanisms of Collective Alignment(47:00) Stress Sharing Mechanism(48:30) New Forms of Intelligence(49:30) Xenobots: Synthetic Life(53:00) Anthrobots: Human Cell Bots(54:30) Future of Diverse Intelligence(55:30) Conclusion and Acknowledgements CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour discussion with Kevin Mitchell (https://www.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: Nick and Kevin's recent paper preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.15908 Kevin's rec... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is another episode in our series on the great figures in developmental bioelectricity. We interview (~1 hour) Mustafa Djamgoz, who has made pivotal discoveries about the role of bioelectricity in the problem of cancer and its eventual solution. Mustafa's book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17612801-beat-cancer Mustafa's papers: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/m.djamgoz/publications Mustafa and I are co-editors of the new journal Bioelectricity: https://home.liebertpub.com/publicat... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

This is a ~1 hour discussion with Dr. Alex Schmidt (www.schmidtpsychologicalservices.com) and Alexey Tolchinsky, Psy.D. (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/). We touch on issues of trauma, somatic memory, dissociation, and protective mechanisms at the interface of the psychiatry and developmental biology. 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... CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab