Thoughtforms Life
Professor Michael Levin hosts this podcast on the cutting edge of biology, cognition, and emergence. Each episode features conversations covering topics like morphogenesis, bioelectricity, and synthetic life. The show investigates how intelligence and agency arise from the most basic levels of nature.
Episodes
Conversation #1 with Alexey Tolchinsky, Anthony Weiss and Chris Fields
This is a ~1 hour conversation on the future of mental health from the perspective of the diverse intelligence field, with Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate), Anthony Weiss (https://www.anthonypweiss.com/about-anthony-weiss), and Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/).CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Psy
Conversation #1 with
This is a ~1 hour working meeting with Thomas Pollak (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pollak, https://drtompollak.substack.com/) and David King (https://profiles.stanford.edu/361883, https://breakingconvention.co.uk/performers/dave-king) about the intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and diverse intelligence research.CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Agency in psychiatry
(05:14) Mental real e
"Diverse Intelligence: new frontier for Origins, Possibilities, and Diseases of Minds by" M. Levin
This is a ~54 minute talk titled "Diverse Intelligence: a new frontier for Origins, Possibilities, and Diseases of the Mind(s)" which I gave for an audience composed of mental health professionals and neuroscientists.CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Roadmap and stakes
(04:13) Minds as continuum
(08:04) Diverse intelligence framework
(11:12) Biological plasticity examples
(18:18) Morphogenesis as intelli
"Energy Constraints and Tradeoffs" by Martin Picard
This is a ~57 minute talk titled "Energy Constraints and Tradeoffs: the mitochondrial daily energy expenditure MDEE study" by Martin Picard (https://www.neurology.columbia.edu/profile/martin-picard-phd) and a brief set of ideas by me at the end, presaging a full discussion of this for our next meeting.
I mentioned these 2 papers:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S03032647
"Aging, goal-directedness, and bioelectricity" by Michael Levin
This is ~23 minute talk overviewing our recent results and the way we think about aging and longevity. It was for a conference with quite short speaking slots so I had to talk fast... Longer talk coming with more data but this outlines some ideas and overviews our published recent work on aging.CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Aging framework overview
(01:16) Bodies as setpoints
(03:08) Anatomical homeo
Computationalism and consciousness with Nic Rouleau, Jaan Aru, and Borjan Milinkovic.
Discussion #2 (57 minutes on computationalism and consciousness) with Borjan Milinkovic (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AwaZbzsAAAAJ&hl=en), Jaan Aru (https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=FvFOzS8AAAAJ&hl=en%29), and Nicolas Rouleau (https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=FyOpVTAAAAAJ&hl=en).CHAPTERS:
(00:00) AI consciousness middle ground
(04:46) Substrate dep
Free Lunches: Model Systems for Studying the Agential Gifts from the Platonic Space by Michael Levin
This is a talk I gave, ~49 minutes long, titled "Free Lunches: Model Systems for Studying the Agential Gifts from the Platonic Space", to a philosophy audience. It covers some more ways I think about the latent space of patterns that in-forms biology and cognitive science.CHAPTERS:
(00:02) Research program overview
(05:15) Dissolving old categories
(10:54) Goal-directed morphogenesis basi
Platonic Space discussion 5
This is a ~2 hour discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Symposium (
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Strong perception framework
(10:12) Perception model boundaries
(17:41) Penrose and probabilities
(30:57) Quantum interpretations debated
(39:28) Probability dynamics and gravity
(53:50) Relational observer problem
(01:00:30) Dance synchronization physics
(01:12:02) Rituals and group flow
(
Platonic Space discussion 4
This is a ~2 hours 4 minute discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Symposium (
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Strong anticipation analogy
(08:16) Relational Platonic patterns
(25:06) Finite brains, infinite grammar
(40:05) Beauty and compression
(51:17) Searching for grammar
(01:01:58) Patterns and selfhood
(01:14:44) Patterns claiming territory
(01:29:28) Markets shape selves
(01:43:57)
Discussion #1 with Amahury Jafet Lopez Diaz, Carlos Gershenson-Garcia, and Richard Watson
This is a ~1 hour 5 minute discussion with Amahury Jafet Lopez Diaz ( Carlos Gershenson-Garcia ( and Richard Watson ( Stay tuned for part 2 where Amahury will present his ideas in more detail. Amahury's paper:
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Common ground and stakes
(06:10) Ontology of platonic space
(14:50) Testing separate realms
(25:52) Acid tests and metaphors
(34:55) Interaction and narratives
(44
A Multiscale Logic of Collective Intelligence" by Donald Hoffman and Chetan Prakash
This is a ~1.5 hour talk + discussion, titled "A Multiscale Logic of Collective Intelligence" by Donald Hoffman ( and Chetan Prakash ( with Robert Chis-Ciure ( and Chris Fields ( and me.
CHAPTERS:
(00:01) Beyond space-time physics
(10:10) Minimal observer participants
(18:49) Recursive trace logic
(35:08) Actions and trace blankets
(43:45) Physics and agency together
(52:32) Causal emerge
Discussion: Lisa Maroski, Michael Levin, Richard Watson
This is a ~1 hour discussion with Lisa Maroski ( and Richard Watson ( about the role of language in shaping our thinking in the field of diverse intelligence and beyond.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Language and systems thinking
(04:25) Parts wholes and resonance
(07:34) Who versus what
(12:45) Recursion and new structures
(17:47) Searching for a word
(25:16) Holding multiple polarities
(29:41) Nest
Discussion: Richard Watson, Alexey Tolchinsky, Mark Solms, Michael Levin, and Karl Friston
This is a ~1 hour meeting with Richard Watson ( Alexey Tolchinsky ( Mark Solms ( and Karl Friston ( where we discuss issues of memory (especially, the role of forgetting) in diverse intelligence (human patients and beyond), and a bit on dreams and psychoanalysis. The original question from me was motivated by some findings on the effects of induced forgetting in models of unconventional c
Conversation with Nic Rouleau, part 2: neuroscience, memory transfer, aging of cognition, and more
This is a ~55 minute discussion following up on Nic's talk and our brief conversation ( comprising part 2 of a conversation with a really interesting young neuroscientist, as well as friend, collaborator, and our Center member, Nicolas Rouleau ( We cover topics of consciousness, neural decoding, the meaning of neuroscience, memory transfer, cognitive plasticity and its relationship to rej
Conversation with Nic Rouleau, part 1: "Some thoughts on the mind as material"
This is a ~1 hour talk and discussion, comprising part 1 of a conversation with a really interesting young neuroscientist, as well as friend, collaborator, and our Center member, Nicolas Rouleau ( Nic goes over unconventional aspects of neuroscience touching on free will, cybernetics, consciousness, and a lot more. We start a discussion which is continued in part 2. For more information:
Conversation 2 with Lisa Barrett, Ben Lyons, and Karen Quigley
This is a second conversation with Lisa Barrett ( Karen Quigley ( and Benjamin Lyons ( about Relational Realism, allostasis, and questions of mind/body/behavior.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Rethinking emotion universals
(09:34) Brain evolution and allostasis
(17:25) Predictive processing and signaling
(30:05) Objectivity and first-person science
(38:45) Flexible body-world boundaries
(45:46) Relati
Cancer: mitochondria and metabolism - a discussion with Thomas Seyfried and his group
This is a 1hr + 23 minutes talk and conversation with Thomas Seyfried, Derek Lee and Tomás Duraj ( Juanita Mathews from my group ( about their work on the metabolic and mitochondrial aspects of cancer.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Metabolic nature of cancer
(08:52) Mitochondrial theory of cancer
(34:00) Metabolic therapy in practice
(40:39) Mitochondria and morphogenetic fields
(45:21) Ion channels
"On Biological and Artificial Consciousness" by Borjan Milinkovic and Jaan Aru
This is a ~53 minute talk + 14 minute Q&A titled "On Biological and Artificial Consciousness: a case for biological computationalism" by Borjan Milinkovic ( and Jaan Aru (
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Speaker background and research
(03:16) Motivation and philosophical landscape
(09:32) Von Neumann architecture
(15:39) Computational metaphor in neuroscience
(22:52) Metabolic constraints in neuro
Platonic Space discussion 3
This is a ~1 hours 44 minute discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Hypothesis (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Platonic forms and interaction
(07:01) Xenobots and evolutionary cost
(11:23) Symbiosis, rectifiers, embeddings
(18:06) Free lunches in biology
(27:59) Topology of competency space
(39:53) Exploration, play, affordances
Conversation with Darren Iammarino #1
This is a ~54 minute conversation with Darren Iammarino (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=YNrxRaYAAAAJ&view_op=list_works) about open problems with respect to the Platonic Space model.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Patterns, minds, and causation
(09:18) Interfaces and positive pressure
(21:50) Randomness and new universals
(31:21) Quantum randomness and scale
(39:16) Cyborg min
"The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis" by Michael Levin
This is a ~57 minute talk titled "The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis: development, regeneration, cancer, and beyond" which I gave at a UCSF seminar for an audience of graduate students and post-docs in Biophysics, Bioinformatics, and Chemical Biology. I covered the role of bioelectricity as cognitive glue underlying high-level adaptive plasticity in
Discussion #1 at the Platonic Space Symposium
This is a ~1 hour 40 minute discussion among contributors to the Platonic Space Hypothesis (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/)
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Math, identity and realms
(16:08) Convergence, abstraction and attractors
(34:05) Attractors, stress and observers
(41:29) Realms, impossibility and simulation
(51:40) Simulation, explanation and understanding
(01:04:39)
Conversation 1 with Mijail Serruya, Alessandro Napoli, and Wesley Clawson
This is a ~1 hour conversation with (including a short talk by) Mijail Serruya (https://research.jefferson.edu/labs/researcher/serruya-research.html), Alessandro Napoli (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandro-napoli-8383a164/), and Wes Clawson (https://allencenter.tufts.edu/wesley-clawson-staff-scientist/). We talk about brain-body-machine interfaces, the clinical aspects and the deeper c
Conversation 1 w/ Lisa Barrett, Ben Lyons, Eli Sennesh, Jordan Theriault-Brown, and Karen Quigley
This is a discussion with with Lisa Feldman Barrett (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WF5c0_8AAAAJ&hl=en), Benjamin Lyons (https://interestingessays.substack.com/), Eli Sennesh (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3z4ALYgAAAAJ), Jordan Theriault-Brown (http://www.jordan-theriault.com/), and Karen Quigley (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aZ3qhVUAAAAJ&hl=en)
"Evolution and Intelligence: inversion and a positive feedback spiral" by Michael Levin
This is a ~50 minute video on evolution from the perspective of diverse intelligence. I discuss 3 main things: the nature of the mapping between genotype and phenotype (an intelligent, problem-solving process that interprets genomic prompts, not simply a complex mechanical mapping), the implications for evolution of operating over such a multi-scale agential material, and a few recent fin
“The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine”
This is a ~46 minute talk by Michael Levin titled “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine” given at a developmental biology/bioengineering symposium, explaining the connections between the cognitive/behavioral sciences and the study of morphogenesis, from the lens of our framework and new technology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Behavioral
Discussion #1 with Katrina Schleisman and David Burke
This is a ~54 minute conversation with Katrina Schleisman (https://www.galois.com/team/katrina-schleisman) and David Burke (https://www.galois.com/team/david-burke) about issues related to memory, Platonism, diverse intelligence, and similar topics.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Paper comments and impetus
(01:38) Math-physics causal dualism
(06:19) Unreasonable effectiveness and foundations
(12:54) A
Conversation with David Resnik 1
This is a ~52 minute conversation with philosopher David Resnik (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/bioethicist) about the Platonic Space model and our plan for a new paper about a different variant of it than what I've been writing so far.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Morphogenesis and latent space
(15:19) Platonism's scientific utility
(27:06) Explanation, models, morphospace
(
Discussion #1 with Elan Barenholtz
This is a ~57 minute discussion with Elan Barenholtz (https://mpcrlab.com/people/Elan-Barenholtz/) about language and its possible autonomy in brains, AI models, and other systems linking to our lab's work on active data and the thoughts-thinkers continuum.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Language As Auto-Generator
(21:14) Virtual Governors In Physiology
(30:37) Mathematics, Metaphysics, Free Lunches
(
Conversation 1 with Diana Moga, Alexey Tolchinsky, and Chris Fields
This is a ~52 minute discussion between Diana Moga (https://www.dianamogamd.com/), Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), and I on topics related to autism, ketamine-assisted therapy, and the linking of these concepts to somatic biology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Ketamine, Trauma, Defining Autism
(06:12) Trauma, Gender, Auti
Conversation 1 with Nora Belrose: AI, sentience, and Platonic Space
This is a ~1 hour 5 minute conversation between Nora Belrose (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p_oBc64AAAAJ&hl=en) and me on the topics of consciousness, AI, and different views of the Platonic Space.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introductions and Moral Risks
(09:11) Intelligence, Sentience, Irreversibility
(16:38) Digital Copies and Value
(24:54) Dynamic Platonic Mindspace
(35:19) Pass
Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Thomas Pollak 2
This is a ~1 hour conversation between Alexey Tolchinsky (https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com/), a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, Center for Professional Psychology, and Thomas Pollak (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-0810), a neuropsychiatrist and researcher working at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King'
Discussion #1 with Chris Fields, Mark Solms, Karl Friston, and Thomas Pollak: introspection & more
This is a ~1 hour 5 minute working conversation with Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), Mark Solms (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vD4p8rQAAAAJ&hl=en), Karl Friston (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q_4u0aoAAAAJ&hl=en), and Thomas Pollak (https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pollak) starting on the topic of variable degrees of introspection in natu
"Entropic motivation and the roots of agency"by Alex Kiefer
This is a ~35 min talk titled "Entropic motivation and the roots of agency" by Alex Kiefer (https://philpeople.org/profiles/alex-kiefer) + ~25 min discussion of the issues of motivation in artificial and natural agents.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Entropy, Motivation, Psychophysical Identity
(35:45) Willpower, Purpose, Buddhist Motivation
(45:57) Emergent Goals and Uncertainty
(58:06) Platonic Patt
"Unconventional Embodiments: model systems & strategies addressing mind-blindness" by Michael Levin
This is a ~45 minute talk for an embodied cognition audience, covering my framework for diverse intelligence, our use of morphogenesis as a model system for communicating with unconventional minds, and my views on our new MomBot platform and how it helps understand the symmetries between science and agency, and the novel group minds consisting of technology, living matter, and scientists
"Platonic Space: brief argument and research agenda" by Michael Levin
This is a brief (~17 minute) introduction to my argument about Platonic space in biology, using a 1-page simplified argument format and then a quick overview of the research program entailed by it.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Mathematical facts and patterns
(01:46) Math explains physical reality
(04:28) Physicalism and Platonic space
(06:17) Structured space of patterns
(07:31) Beyond mathematics,
Against Mind-Blindness: recognizing and communicating with unconventional beings by Michael Levin
This ~50 minute talk given at a futurism/AI gathering is a variant of my recent talks on diverse intelligence, focusing on ways to expand our perspective via considerations of non-brain-based intelligence in the body, patterns as agents, synthetic beings as model systems for learning to predict and communicate with agents that do not share our selection history, pattern of form and behavi
Conversation with Benjamin Lyons, Eli Sennesh, and Jordan Theriault
This is a ~1 hour discussion with Ben Lyons (https://interestingessays.substack.com/), Eli Sennesh (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3z4ALYgAAAAJ&hl=en), and Jordan Theriault (http://www.jordan-theriault.com/), where they each give talks and then we have a brief Q&A on topics related to neuroscience, economics, and specifically the interoception and allostasis view of beh
"What the physiological software of life means for patient-specific interventions" by Michael Levin
This is a very brief (~5 minute) explanation I made at a conference on next generation biomedicine about the topic of physiological learning and reprogrammability. I was commenting on the fact that differences in patient responses to interventions are not only due to genetics and epigenetics, but also to the memories made by cells and tissues of past experiences (which will differ greatl
Why bioelectricity in morphogenesis matters: an introduction in 3 slides by Michael Levin
This is an ~8 minute very quick introduction about the context for developmental bioelectricity and some examples of how we use it as an interface to control growth and form. In this very short 3 slide introduction at a discussion forum, I tried to explain that bioelectricity is not just more physics we need to keep track of in morphogenesis, nor is it about applying external fields to ha
"The biology of apparent selves" by Michael Levin
This is a ~52-minute talk titled "The Biology of Apparent Selves:
Bioengineering Model Systems for the Contemplative Sciences" that I have at the CSCSC 25 (Complex Systems and Contemplative Studies Conference) symposium (https://luma.com/3vyrtz4j?utm_source=ep-g2M2JDmWHB).
CHAPTERS:
(00:01) Embodied Minds And TAME
(03:30) Beyond Human-Centric Minds
(11:36) From Chemistry To Selves
(18:49)
Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Patricia Silveira 1
This is a ~48 minute discussion between Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&hl=en), Patricia Silveira (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VexSZ40AAAAJ&hl=en), and me on the topic of molecular markers of trauma and how to extend ideas about the psychology of trauma to minimal models of cognition such as Xenobots and Anthrobots.
CHAPTERS:
"The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist" by Michael Levin
This is a ~58 minute talk titled "The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist: symmetries between AI and bioengineering the agential material of life and their impact on technology and on our future" which I gave as a closing Keynote to the ALIFE conference in Japan (https://2025.alife.org/). This is a different talk than any I've done before, in that besides going over the remarkable capa
"Bioelectricity: a bridge between physics and cognition, by way of biology" by Michael Levin
This is a ~22 minute talk that I gave remotely at the Tech For Impact Summit 2025 in Japan (https://tech4impactsummit.com/). It goes very quickly over the idea of bioelectricity as the cognitive glue between different scales of intelligence at the body, allowing top-down control and transduction of high-level goals down to the chemistry. I discuss the idea of agential materials, the goa
Bioelectricity: A Bridge Between Physics and Cognition, by Way of Biology
This is a ~54 minute talk I gave, titled ""Bioelectricity: a bridge between physics and cognition, by way of biology", at the National Institute of Health Interest Group "Quantum SIG" (https://oir.nih.gov/sigs/qis-quantum-sensing-biology-interest-group). My talk doesn't contain any quantum biology content per se, but I discuss the idea of top-down control and cognition all the way down, f
Intrinsic Motivation in Evolved, Engineered, and Hybrid Systems
This is a ~1 hour talk I gave at the Oxford Robotics Institute called "Intrinsic motivation in evolved, engineered, and hybrid systems: the interface of biophysics, computer science, and behavioral science". It covers our work from the perspective of motivations - what are they (in various unconventional agents, spaces, and scales), how can we predict/change them, and where they "come fro
Discussion between Elliot Murphy and Michael Levin 1
This is a a ~1 hour discussion between Elliot Murphy (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4AYNRj0AAAAJ&hl=en) and me on the topic of language, evolution, neuroscience, and language models.
Elliot's paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17588928.2025.2523875
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Neural Basis Of Syntax
(19:00) Signatures Of Structured Grammar
(30:11) Origins Of Grammati
Discussion with Chris Fields and Julian Gough #1
This is a conversation between Chris Fields (https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/christopher-a-chris-fields-ph-d/), Julian Gough (https://theeggandtherock.com/), and me about the theory of selection on the scale of universes and analogies to biology.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Evolutionary Cosmology Overview
(10:03) Universe Heredity And Environment
(20:10) Universe As Organism
(30:58) Fermi Pa
Discussion with Jordi Vallverdú #1
This is a discussion between Jordi Vallverdú (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y_Q8AQkAAAAJ&hl=en) and me, around the topic of transferring information from the minds of embodied humans into LLM AI's, and natural, biological analogs of this process (moving cognitive patterns across embodiments).
The paper Jordi was referring to: https://journals.bilpubgroup.com/index.php/fls/
Aastha Jain and I interview Robert Gatenby
This is a ~1 hour interview by Aastha Jain Simes (https://www.livelongerworld.com/) and I of leading cancer researcher Robert Gatenby (https://www.moffitt.org/inspiring-stories/dr.-gatenbys-story). Bob talks about the evolutionary and physiology approach to understanding cancer.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Evolutionary Hallmarks of Cancer
(12:02) Cooperation Stress Bioelectricity
(22:23) Informat
"Mapping Diverse Intelligence Spaces" by Janet Wiles - discussion
This is a ~36 minute talk by Janet Wiles (https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/13) "Mapping Diverse Intelligence Spaces: looking for xenobots in computational models of memory and language", followed by a ~24 minute discussion of her work on the intersection of cognitive science, language, robotics, and computer science, and some of our work on evolution and synthetic bioengineering.
Slides ki
Against Mind-Blindness: Recognizing and Communicating with Agential Materials by Michael Levin
This is a 1 hour 11 minute talk by me called "Against Mind-Blindness: recognizing and communicating with Agential Materials and Beyond". It is a slightly longer, updated version of this talk from last month, containing a bit of new material and a somewhat differently-ordered presentation.
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Blo
Patterns of Form and Behavior Beyond Emergence by Michael Levin
This is a ~1 hour 15 minute talk titled "Patterns of Form and Behavior Beyond Emergence: how Platonic Space in-forms evolved, engineered, and hybrid embodied minds", which is the kickoff talk for our Symposium on Platonic Space (https://thoughtforms.life/symposium-on-the-platonic-space/). Here I go slowly step by step to review the data that motivates this unconventional way to look at bi
Biological and Technological Information Processing
This is a ~35 minute talk on commonalities and differences between biological and technological information processing, and the implications for AI (given at the AGI-25 conference in Iceland). The full program, including Hananel Hazan's talk (which is the 2nd half of mine), is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdftA37yZJw.
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Unconventional Embodiments of Consciousness: A Diverse Intelligence Research Program - Michael Levin
This is a ~46 minute talk given at a conference on consciousness, presenting my lab's data on cognition in body organs outside the brain and then some speculations about the mind-body connection more generally (fleshing out my Platonic space model with symmetries between brain:mind relationships and mathematics:physics relationships).
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Against Mind-blindness: Recognizing and Communicating with Agential Materials and Beyond - Michael Levin
This is a ~1 hour 7 minute talk I gave at the SEMF Interdisciplinary School (July 2025, https://semf.org.es/school2025/#speakers-container) on agency ways to think about expanding our ability to detect and communicate with unconventional minds. The same talk but with a lengthy Q&A will be up on the SEMF website.
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Beyond Complexity & Emergence: Taming Multiscale Competency in Agential Materials
This is a ~54 minute talk given at a workshop on complexity. Many of the examples are the same ones I often talk about but this talk is focused on explaining how biology deals with complexity, and ways to think about complex patterns of form and behavior beyond the conventional approach of emergence.
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Engineering Agential Materials
This is a ~18 min talk plus ~10 min Q&A on a top-down approach to bioengineering and robotics that I gave at the Biohybrid Robotics Symposium in Switzerland in July 2025 (https://biohybrid-robotics.com/).
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Discussion with Michael Johnson
This is a ~55 minute conversation with Michael Johnson (https://t.co/YxAOZif0V2) covering topics of spectrum of consciousness down to the cell (and below) level, implicit memory and cellular pixels of experience, Platonic space, symmetry breaking, and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in systems.
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Unconventional Selves - a Diverse Intelligence Perspective on Consciousness by Michael Levin
"Unconventional selves in novel spaces, scales, and embodiments - a diverse intelligence perspective on a continuum of cognition and consciousness" is a ~1 hour 12 min talk I gave at a conference on consciousness (https://www.hardproblem.it/), as it relates to our work on diverse intelligence and unconventional cognition.
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Nothing in Biology Makes Sense without Teleology
This is a deliberately provocative talk (~1 hour 20 minutes) I gave on teleology (a pretty taboo subject in a lot of the life sciences) delivered at Caltech. I try to go step by step and show the philosophical background of how I think about goal-directedness in physically embodied agents (cells and tissues etc.) and then the data - classic examples and new discoveries that this framewor
Discussion with Murray Shanahan
This is a ~25 minute discussion with Murray Shanahan (https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~mpsha/) on topics following up on his talk in our Center (https://youtu.be/ZlKc3ebLgEI?si=Tmq5gOwVDi4t-pip).
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Discussion between Adam Safron, Max Shen, and Michael Levin
This is a ~1 hour discussion with Adam Safron (https://www.adamsafron.com/) and Max Shen (https://www.maxkshen.com/home), and Michael Levinabout diverse intelligence and its relevance for pain.
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Discussion with David Spivak
This is a ~1 hour discussion with mathematician David Spivak (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Spivak) about issues related to goal-directedness and some puzzles around mathematical vs. physical constants (see https://thoughtforms.life/why-the-tight-clustering-of-mathematical-constants/ for more details on that question).
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Endogenous Bioelectrical Networks: An Interface to Somatic Intelligence
This is a ~55 min talk by Michael Levin "Endogenous Bioelectrical Networks: an interface to somatic intelligence for regenerative medicine", going over the state of the art in developmental bioelectricity in the context of collaborating with the cellular collective intelligence for applications in birth defects, regeneration, and cancer. It has some new material beyond what my recent talk
Against Mind-Blindness
This is a new ~1 hour talk by me on the concept of diverse intelligence, and morphogenesis as a model system with which to practice identifying and communicating with unconventional minds. This is a bit different than previous ones because I explicitly go over examples of how some of our various data on bioelectrics addresses each of several key properties of cellular collectives as *cogn
Chemical AI: An Unconventional Strategy for Mimicking Biological Intelligence - Pier Luigi Gentili
This is a ~1 hour total presentation by Pier Luigi Gentili (https://www.pierluigigentili.com/) and brainstorming session about chemical intelligence and its relationship to the broader field of diverse intelligence. CONNECT WITH ME:Podcast WebsiteYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotifyTwitterBlogThe Levin Lab
Bioelectric Networks as the Interface to Somatic Intelligence: Toward a New Regenerative Medicine
This is a ~50 minute talk by me (given at IIT Mandi yesterday) on bioelectricity from the perspective of both, a path to regenerative medicine of birth defects, injury repair, and cancer, and a model system for learning to communicate with unconventional collective intelligences. CONNECT WITH ME:Podcast WebsiteYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotifyTwitterBlogThe Levin Lab
Conversation with Benjamin Lyons, Mark Blumberg, and Karen Adolph: Motor Development and Cognition
This is a ~30 minute conversation with Benjamin Lyons (https://benjaminflyons.com/), Mark Blumberg (https://blumberg.lab.uiowa.edu), and Karen Adolph (https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/karen-adolph.html) on the field of motor development and behavior in humans and other animals, and the ties between that field and the morphogenetic intelligence of embryogenesis and regeneration.
Suggested read
Against Mind-Blindness: Recognizing and Communicating With Diverse Intelligences
This is a ~35 minute talk about diverse intelligence and our efforts to establish formalisms and methods for communicating with unconventional biological intelligences. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Expanding Mind Blindness(02:50) Recognizing Diverse Minds(05:00) Embodied Agent Origins(08:40) Anatomical Intelligence Spaces(12:40) Bioelectricity: Body's Glue(15:50) Communicating Cell Intelligence(22:30
Scaling Intelligence in Biology, Artificial Life, and Beyond
This is a ~20 minute very rapid talk reviewing ideas around the scaling of intelligence in unconventional substrates. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Intro & Unconventional Concepts(00:40) Challenging Traditional Worldviews(01:40) Life as Continua(03:00) Electromagnetic Spectrum Analogy(04:30) Spectrum of Mind Applications(05:50) Single Cell to Mind(07:10) Agential Material: Cell Competency(08:00) I
Culture as an Additional Scale of Biological Organisation with Ivan Kroupin and Tian Chen Zeng
This is a short summary talk by Ivan Kroupin (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XjxueRYAAAAJ&hl=en) and Tian Chen Zeng (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tian-Chen-Zeng) and then a discussion of issues around biological and cultural multi-scale intelligence. Their longer talk is here: https://youtu.be/dYuNJSilRMo?si=gVvMV_N4pjloe0iX
CONNECT WITH ME:
Podcast Website
Ethics and the New Biology
This is a ~30 minute talk to an Ethics class (undergraduates) about aspects of our work that have implications for ethics. CHAPTERS:(00:00) Intelligence All The Way Down(06:30) Scaling Up Cognition(13:40) Communicating With Cellular Intelligence(20:00) Freedom of Embodiment(27:40) Ethics of Future BeingsCONNECT WITH ME:Podcast WebsiteYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotifyTwitterBlogThe Levin Lab
Conversation with Frank Putnam and Alexey Tolchinsky
This is a ~1 hour conversation with Frank Putnam (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KLGgJg4AAAAJ&hl=en) and Alexey Tolchinsky (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tiBKmrsAAAAJ&hl=en) about dissociative disorders, clinical psychology, and their applications to the cell biology of regenerative medicine and cancer.
CONNECT WITH ME:
Podcast Website
YouTube
Discussion with Michael Johnson
This is a ~50 minute conversation with Michael Johnson (https://t.co/YxAOZif0V2) on vasocomputation, stress as cognitive glue, and more generally computation and cognition in unconventional substrates.
CONNECT WITH ME:
Podcast Website
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Twitter
Blog
The Levin Lab
How Does It Know? Bioelectricity as Memory Medium, Cognitive Glue, & Path to Regenerative Medicine
This is a ~1 hour talk on the field of developmental bioelectricity from a perspective of cognitive science and the homology between mechanisms of self-assembly of somatic and brain-based intelligence.
CONNECT WITH ME:
Podcast Website
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Twitter
Blog
The Levin Lab
Uncovering Electrodynamic Design Principles of Living Cells
This is a ~1 hour talk by Jack Tuszynski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tuszy%C5%84ski, https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/jackt) on electrical and electromagnetic properties of microtubules.
CONNECT WITH ME:
Podcast Website
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Twitter
Blog
The Levin Lab
Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Thomas Pollak
This is a ~1 hour conversation with Alexey Tolchinsky (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexey-Tolchinsky), a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, Center for Professional Psychology, and Thomas Pollak (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6171-0810), a neuropsychiatrist and researcher working at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscienc
Conversation with Lauren Ross
This is a ~1 hour discussion with philosopher of science Lauren Ross (https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~rossl/), on the topic of explanation and causation - what does it mean to look for explanations in science, what counts as a good explanation, and how do you know you've got one.
Lauren's book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/explanation-in-biology/743A8C5A6E709B1E348FCD4D005C67B3
Interview with Azra Raza on a New Theory and Practice of Cancer
This is a ~1 hour conversation of Aastha Jain Simes (https://www.livelongerworld.com/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/aasthajs) and Azra Raza on her unique and passionate journey in oncology and her ideas for cancer therapy.
Azra is an amazing person, clinician, and scientist; see more of her work at:
Columbia web page: https://www.cancer.columbia.edu/profile/azra-raza-md
Personal site wi
