Episodes

  • Platonic Space discussion 3
    Feb 5 2026

    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

    (48:01) Markov blankets and evolution

    (57:51) Relational life and observers

    (01:04:10) Defining play and plasticity

    (01:20:35) Thermodynamics and domesticated play

    (01:29:32) Will to live dynamics

    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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    1 hr and 44 mins
  • Conversation with Darren Iammarino #1
    Feb 4 2026

    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 minds and identity

    (50:18) Unconventional minds and substrates

    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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    55 mins
  • "The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis" by Michael Levin
    Jan 30 2026

    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 living tissue, recent progress in exploiting that interface, and new developments in research platforms for this field.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Framing bioelectricity's role

    (09:28) Morphogenesis as goal-directed

    (22:45) Bioelectric control of form

    (35:10) Rewriting anatomical set points

    (43:55) Cancer and aging bioelectricity

    (49:36) AI, anthrobots, and outlook

    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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    58 mins
  • Discussion #1 at the Platonic Space Symposium
    Jan 21 2026

    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) Mind everywhere and agency

    (01:19:19) Content, communication and creativity

    (01:30:42) Boundaries, scale and space

    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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    1 hr and 41 mins
  • Conversation 1 with Mijail Serruya, Alessandro Napoli, and Wesley Clawson
    Jan 18 2026

    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 conceptual connections.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Introductions and BCI vision

    (16:32) Platypus-inspired brain augmentation

    (24:28) Plasticity, aging, and models

    (39:37) Self-organizing neural interfaces

    (49:58) Hypnosis, regeneration, and BCIs

    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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    59 mins
  • Conversation 1 w/ Lisa Barrett, Ben Lyons, Eli Sennesh, Jordan Theriault-Brown, and Karen Quigley
    Jan 17 2026

    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) about topics related to allostasis and top-down control across cognitive science and developmental biology.

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Framing interdisciplinary synthesis

    (03:18) Bioelectric collective intelligence

    (16:00) Constraints versus bioelectric memory

    (20:06) Neurodevelopment and allostasis

    (27:10) Plasticity and dirty genomes

    (35:59) Relational structure and constraints

    (40:24) Agency across biological scales

    (45:04) Goal-like molecular networks

    (48:49) Allostasis and control hierarchies

    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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    56 mins
  • "Evolution and Intelligence: inversion and a positive feedback spiral" by Michael Levin
    Jan 15 2026

    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 findings about the origin of the intelligence spiral taking place before differential replication dynamics kick in.

    Editing by https://x.com/DNAMediaEditing

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Framing evolution and intelligence

    (06:26) Morphogenesis as collective intelligence

    (12:06) Regeneration and downward causation

    (16:10) Bioelectric patterning and memory

    (21:05) Reprogrammable adaptive anatomies

    (26:06) Interpretation, plasticity and evolution

    (31:58) Competent matter and evolvability

    (35:45) Novel beings and emergence

    (41:54) Prebiotic learning and agency

    (46:43) Mind beyond life

    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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    50 mins
  • “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of the Behavioral Sciences in Developmental Biology and Biomedicine”
    Dec 11 2025

    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 Science Foundations

    (05:57) Agential Cells And Morphospace

    (10:47) Goal Directed Regeneration Examples

    (18:16) Bioelectric Pattern Memories

    (23:32) Exploring Morphological Plasticity

    (31:54) Learning Regeneration And Cancer

    (36:10) Novel Bioengineered Living Machines

    (41:22) Future Minds And Ethics

    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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    47 mins