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 emergence and joins

(59:52) Contextuality and quantum logic

(01:06:00) Unitarity and positive geometries

(01:16:29) Consciousness-first mind theories

(01:24:39) Testing models together

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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 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) Nested biological agency

(35:42) Patterns and Platonic minds

(45:41) Cross-level observers and time

(52:45) Knowing and owning beliefs

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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 ~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 cognition ( and more coming soon).

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Role of forgetting

(06:22) Overfitting and generalization

(10:45) Accuracy minus complexity

(21:13) REM sleep and transference

(24:40) Choosing futures and pasts

(31:18) Cellular psychotherapy ideas

(34:58) Dreaming of cell phones

(39:47) Photographic memory costs

(44:18) Precision and future paths

(52:25) Collective cellular identity

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 ~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 rejuvenation therapies, intelligence throughout the universe, and the weirdest work Nic has done (he chose his work on memory in Playdoh). For more information: Nic's website: X account: @DrNRouleau Recent papers to check out: Sellar, E.P., Rouleau, N. (In Review). A cybernetic framework for synthetic biological intelligence in the era of neural tissue engineering. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/md2wf_v1. Kansala, C., Cicek, E., Nkansah-Okoree, V., Golding, A., Murugan, N.J., Rouleau, N. (In Review). Superstitious conditioning forms the experience of free will under causal determinism. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/fk3yt_v2. Roskies, A. & Rouleau, N. (Forthcoming, In Press). Research on brain organoids should prioritize questions of agency, not consciousness. AJOB Neuroscience. Rouleau, N. & Levin, M. (In Press). Brains and where else? Mapping theories of consciousness to unconventional embodiments. Philosophical Transactions: A. Preprint doi:10.1098/rsta.2025.0082. Rouleau, N., Levin, M. (2024), Discussions of machine versus living intelligence need more clarity, Nature Machine Intelligence, doi:10.31219/osf.io/gz3km Rouleau, N., and Levin, M. (2023), The Multiple Realizability of Sentience in Living Systems and Beyond, eNeuro, 10(11), doi:10.1523/eneuro.0375-23.2023 Rouleau, N., Cairns, D. M., Rusk, W., Levin, M., and Kaplan, D. (2021), Learning and synaptic plasticity in 3D bioengineered neural tissues Neuroscience Letters, 750: 135799

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Rethinking unconscious experience

(07:50) Immortality, memory, and aging

(20:11) Regeneration, identity, and continuity

(34:52) Goal signals and decoding

(44:01) Conditioning strange materials

(49:15) Neuroscience and cosmic minds

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 ~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: Nic's website: X account: @DrNRouleau Recent papers to check out: Sellar, E.P., Rouleau, N. (In Review). A cybernetic framework for synthetic biological intelligence in the era of neural tissue engineering. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/md2wf_v1. Kansala, C., Cicek, E., Nkansah-Okoree, V., Golding, A., Murugan, N.J., Rouleau, N. (In Review). Superstitious conditioning forms the experience of free will under causal determinism. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/fk3yt_v2. Roskies, A. & Rouleau, N. (Forthcoming, In Press). Research on brain organoids should prioritize questions of agency, not consciousness. AJOB Neuroscience. Rouleau, N. & Levin, M. (In Press). Brains and where else? Mapping theories of consciousness to unconventional embodiments. Philosophical Transactions: A. Preprint doi:10.1098/rsta.2025.0082. Rouleau, N., Levin, M. (2024), Discussions of machine versus living intelligence need more clarity, Nature Machine Intelligence, doi:10.31219/osf.io/gz3km Rouleau, N., and Levin, M. (2023), The Multiple Realizability of Sentience in Living Systems and Beyond, eNeuro, 10(11), doi:10.1523/eneuro.0375-23.2023 Rouleau, N., Cairns, D. M., Rusk, W., Levin, M., and Kaplan, D. (2021), Learning and synaptic plasticity in 3D bioengineered neural tissues Neuroscience Letters, 750: 135799

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Free will, minds, transmission

(26:52) Material brains after death

(31:18) Defining free will experience

(38:00) Long-term agency and algorithms

(49:35) Causality, math, and consciousness

(57:33) Transmissive consciousness and information

PRODUCED BY:

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SOCIAL LINKS:

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

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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 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) Relational meaning in perception

(52:06) Embodiment, morphospace and realism

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 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 and metabolism

(53:01) Bioelectric control and regeneration

(01:09:03) Mouse versus human models

(01:15:19) Mitochondria, aging, and disease

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 ~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 neurons

(29:04) Heterarchy and scale integration

(33:55) Empirical scale integration findings

(38:00) Hybrid computation in dendrites

(43:16) Field-based neural computation

(47:48) Implications for synthetic consciousness

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