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Thoughtforms Life

Michael Levin
Thoughtforms Life
Latest episode

201 episodes

  • Thoughtforms Life

    "Diverse Intelligence: new frontier for Origins, Possibilities, and Diseases of Minds by" M. Levin

    10/07/2026 | 54 mins.
    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 intelligence

    (22:31) Multiscale cellular agency

    (26:39) Anatomical problem solving

    (32:40) Ancient bioelectric networks

    (35:34) Communicating somatic goals

    (42:02) Cancer and medicine

    (46:37) Novel living agents

    (51:56) Ethics and summary

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

    Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

    Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

    The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
  • Thoughtforms Life

    "Energy Constraints and Tradeoffs" by Martin Picard

    27/06/2026 | 56 mins.
    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/S0303264722001435

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/bies.201900245

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Mitochondria energy tradeoffs

    (52:14) Scarcity coordinates biology

    (54:44) Anthrobot aging evidence

    (56:31) Follow-up ideas

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

    Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

    Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

    The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
  • Thoughtforms Life

    "Aging, goal-directedness, and bioelectricity" by Michael Levin

    26/06/2026 | 23 mins.
    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 homeostasis examples

    (06:40) Bioelectric pattern memory

    (08:41) Rewriting biological setpoints

    (12:31) Aging bioelectric fuzziness

    (14:18) Sharpening brain patterns

    (17:34) Cognitive aging hypothesis

    (19:42) Atavistic tissue dissociation

    (22:21) Species longevity questions

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

    Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

    Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

    The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
  • Thoughtforms Life

    Computationalism and consciousness with Nic Rouleau, Jaan Aru, and Borjan Milinkovic.

    22/06/2026 | 57 mins.
    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 dependent minds

    (08:07) Analog computer substrates

    (13:44) Zombies and digital computers

    (18:56) Polycomputing and observers

    (25:01) Felt experience defined

    (30:08) Action first embodiment

    (34:08) Causal emergence and memory

    (42:36) Self versus environment

    (46:47) Cognitive light cones

    (51:44) Boundary gradients and observers

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

    Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

    Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

    The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
  • Thoughtforms Life

    Free Lunches: Model Systems for Studying the Agential Gifts from the Platonic Space by Michael Levin

    20/06/2026 | 49 mins.
    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 basics

    (14:11) Rewriting bioelectric patterns

    (19:23) Novel embodied abilities

    (23:35) Molecular agency ratchet

    (27:33) Math and living forms

    (33:31) Evolutionary accounting breaks

    (41:04) High agency patterns

    (47:01) Diverse intelligence future

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

    Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

    Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

    The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org
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About Thoughtforms Life
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.
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