This is a ~39 minute talk titled "New Bodies, Unconventional Minds: a perspective on a continuum of cognition (& consciousness)" for a consciousness conference about our laboratory model systems relevant to the study of minds, my Platonic Space model, and a few opinions on consciousness (at the end, since I don't have any strong claims about consciousness per se).

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Continuum of novel minds

(07:11) Molecular networks and learning

(11:42) Xenobots and anthrobots

(18:25) Paying for competencies

(28:21) The space of patterns

(33:28) Rethinking nature of consciousness

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SOCIAL LINKS:

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

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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

This is a ~35 minute talk titled "Thoughts as Thinkers: the biology & computer science of inspiration" I gave at a recent conference.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) The nature of inspiration

(15:51) Xenobots and novel minds

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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

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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

This #short is an excerpt from Michael Levin's talk "Biology, AI, and Diverse Intelligence" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or_3tlEOLj4

produced by https://x.com/DNAMediaEditing

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Patterns and free lunches

(01:01) Questioning biological uniqueness

(01:48) Competencies beyond the code

PRODUCED BY:

https://aipodcast.ing

SOCIAL LINKS:

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

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

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Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

This #short is an excerpt from Michael Levin's talk "Biology, AI, and Diverse Intelligence" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or_3tlEOLj4

produced by https://x.com/DNAMediaEditing

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Defining life and machines

(00:44) Reductionists versus organicists

(01:35) Rethinking machine metaphors

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

This is a ~1 hour and 4 minutes talk + Q&A that my student and collaborator Karina Kofman (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karina-Kofman-2) and I gave to the Society for Mind-Matter Research as a keynote talk in acceptance of the best paper for 2025 award (the paper is: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/mm/2025/00000023/00000001/art00003).

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Mind and body interface

(03:44) Embryonic individuation and plasticity

(21:35) Clinical cases and anomalies

(41:11) Platonic space of competencies

(51:39) Audience questions and answers

(57:19) Categories of platonic forms

(01:01:18) Patterns and physical embodiment

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

This is a ~1 hour talk given at a conference on the philosophy and future of neuroscience, so I oriented it around extending the concept of neuroscience: not the study of neural phenomena, but more broadly around how neuroscience of neural and non-neural cells shows a model system for understanding collective intelligence, and using morphogenesis as a stepping stone model system to show us how to do behavioral experiments in unconventional cognitive agents. I didn't have time for any of the biomedical applications of these ideas (lots of other talks about that) but alluded at the end to some deep questions around the properties of novel cognitive beings and our framework for addressing it. There was a really good Q&A after which will be put up by the original conference organization when they post their version. I'll link it here when it's up.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Defining unconventional minds

(10:05) Scaling cognitive light cones

(15:59) Morphogenesis as collective intelligence

(25:46) Bioelectricity as cognitive glue

(36:56) Reprogramming biological pattern memories

(48:59) Xenobots and synthetic life

(55:15) Platonic origins of order

PRODUCED BY:

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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

This is a ~21-minute talk titled "Life, Machines, and a Foundation for Synthbiosis" that I gave to the Santa Fe Institute (https://santafe.edu/) conference on "Symbiogenesis in the Age of Machine intelligence" (https://www.santafe.edu/events/symbiogenesis-in-the-age-of-machine-intelligence-2027", September 17 and 18, 2026)

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Space of embodied minds

(03:03) Rewriting bioelectric set points

(06:08) Xenobots and novel beings

(12:04) Molecular networks and learning

(15:26) Mathematics as information source

(18:38) Exploring anatomical morphospace

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

"Biology, AI, and Diverse Intelligence: what we know and don't know about embodied minds" - a 53-minute talk I gave on what the field of diverse intelligence has to say to AI research (to an audience of non-experts in AI, so it's not very technical on that end). I tried to go a little slower and explain more of the basics and logic.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Defining life and machines

(04:16) Expanding the Eden view

(07:41) Collective cellular intelligence

(15:16) Bioelectricity and goal memories

(22:08) Xenobots and novel beings

(31:03) Causal emergence and math

(41:58) Robotics and cognitive prosthetics

(47:48) Communicating with diverse minds

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