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Thoughtforms Life

Thoughtforms Life

By: Michael Levin
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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.© 2025 Michael Levin / Thoughtforms Life Science
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
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