Michael Levin

Thoughtforms Life

Science EN ↓ 183 episodes

A podcast by Professor Michael Levin exploring the frontiers of biology, cognition, and emergence. Engage in conversations about morphogenesis, bioelectricity, and synthetic life — and uncover how intelligence and agency emerge from the most fundamental levels of nature.

Author

Michael Levin

Episodes

Conversation with Mark Solms and Chris Fields 01.09.2023 55:34

Chris Fields, Mark Solms, and Michael Levin discuss what novel behaviors are (in the context of problem-solving in novel circumstances), consciousness in explanted brain pieces, and sleep in unconventional agents. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Bioelectrical Signals Reveal, Induce, and Normalize Cancer 15.08.2023 52:05

This is a ~1 hour talk by Mike Levin on the bioelectrics of cancer as a breakdown of multicellularity and collective intelligence of morphogenesis. The full title is: "Bioelectrical signals reveal, induce, and normalize cancer: a perspective on cancer as a disease of dynamic geometry" CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation with Chris Fields and Richard Watson 12.06.2023 1:09:31

Working meeting between Chris Fields, Richard Watson, and I where we discuss error correction (and who decides what's an error), quantum aspects generalized to the larger world, decoherence, observers, and Patrick Grim's fascinating work on adding a time dimension to logic to enable contradictions and self-referential paradoxes to be manipulated as fractal structures. Chris Fields: https://chrisfi...

Conversation With Richard Watson, Mark Solms, and Michael Levin 05.06.2023 57:43

We discuss definitions of a Self from the perspective of history and anticipation, free will and responsibility, what learning (generalizing) agents bring to the table beyond the input data, truly alien aliens, and whether your brain is really necessary (e.g., https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7434023). CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levi...

Conversation Between Richard Watson, Iain McGilchrist, and Michael Levin 03.06.2023 1:01:12

Richard Watson, Iain McGilchrist, and Michael Levin discuss the brain, unconventional cognition, oscillations, agency, and more. Iain McGilchrist - https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

My Talk on Consciousness at the Science of Consciousness 2023 31.05.2023 33:57

A 30-minute talk on implications of my work for the study of consciousness (fyi, I do not offer a new theory of consciousness or try to support/rule out any of the existing ToC's; I talk about reasons to suspect consciousness in other parts of bodies than the brain and other diverse embodiments). CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Iain McGilchrist, Richard Watson, and Mile Levin 30.05.2023 58:33

Conversation between Iain McGilchrist, Richard Watson, and I. Mostly about the nature of explanation in developmental biology and bioengineering. Iain McGilchrist - https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation #1 between Richard Watson, Mark Solms, and Michael Levin 16.05.2023 58:06

Discussion between Richard Watson, Mark Solms, and I about brains, agency, and more. Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ Mark Solms - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation #1 between Chris Fields, Richard Watson, and Mike Levin 11.05.2023 1:01:59

Working meeting #1 with Chris Fields and Richard Watson. We discuss error-correcting codes (a little; more next time), reductionism, multi-scale controls, and more. Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ Chris Fields - https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation between Mark Solms, Chris Fields, and Mike Levin 04.05.2023 56:02

A meeting between Mark Solms, Chris Fields, and I: active inference, qualia, consciousness, brains, bacteria, and more. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Understanding the Collective Intelligence of Cells 01.05.2023 1:13:44

A talk I have at the University of Hertfordshire CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Talk for Robosoft 2023 21.04.2023 45:40

Biology hacking itself, Xenobots, and morphogenesis CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Working Meeting #1 with Mike Gazzaniga and Richard Watson 18.04.2023 1:14:09

Mike Gazzaniga, Richard Watson, and I discuss split brains, minds, confabulation, and consciousness. Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ Mike Gazzaniga - https://people.psych.ucsb.edu/gazzaniga/michael/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Chat with Carlos E. Perez about the TAME Framework: Intelligence and Agency 15.04.2023 40:04

We discuss what the relationship is between intelligence and agency (since my definition of intelligence focuses on competency for goal-directed problem-solving), AI, biological evolution, and what is important about maintaining humanity in the deep future. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Iain McGilchrist, Richard Watson, and Mike Levin 12.04.2023 1:00:01

A working meeting discussing machines, life, agency, souls, and the continuum of being. Iain McGilchrist - https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ The poem I was referring to half-way through is this one: It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t i...

Conversation Between Richard Watson, Iain McGilchrist, and Michael Levin 02.04.2023 1:01:12

Conversation Between Mark Solms, Chris Fields, and Mike Levin 22.03.2023 57:42

This is a working meeting and discussion between Mark Solms, Chris Fields, and Mike Levin Mark Solms - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en Chris Fields - https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation between Douglas Brash, Chris Fields, and Michael Levin 10.03.2023 52:03

A working meeting between Douglas Brash, Chris Fields, and Michael Levin Chris Fields - https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/ Douglas Brash - https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/douglas-brash/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation Between Richard Watson, Iain McGilchrist, and Michael Levin 20.02.2023 58:14

A working meeting between Richard Watson, Iain McGilchrist, and myself discussing issues of mind, selfhood, evolution, neuroscience, etc. Iain McGilchrist - https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ Richard Watson - https://www.richardawatson.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Engineering with Agential Materials: From Evolution to Biological Robotics, via Bioelectricity 16.02.2023 59:43

CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Beyond the Brain: Multiscale Diverse Intelligence as Biological Inspiration for AI 14.02.2023 1:03:45

This is a talk I gave to an audience of computer scientists and neuroscientists, interested in AI, consciousness, and the brain. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Bioelectric Networks Underlie the Intelligence of the Body 05.02.2023 1:03:23

This is a talk given to the Department of Biotechnology at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in January 2023. CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Diverse Intelligence 28.01.2023 1:20:36

A talk on "Diverse Intelligence: understanding and relating to unconventional biological, engineered, and hybrid agents" by Michael Levin CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation of Michael Levin with Iain McGilchrist 27.01.2023 56:30

Conversation of Michael Levin with Iain McGilchrist Iain McGilchrist - https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab

Conversation between Douglas Brash, Chris Fields, and Michael Levin 27.01.2023 1:11:58

Conversation between Douglas Brash, Chris Fields, and Michael Levin Douglas Brash - https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/douglas-brash/ Chris Fields - https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/ CONNECT WITH ME: Podcast Website YouTube Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Blog The Levin Lab