Talk kindly contributed by Michael Levin in SEMF's 2022 Spacious Spatiality

https://semf.org.es/spatiality

TALK ABSTRACT
Life was solving problems in metabolic, genetic, physiological, and anatomical spaces long before brains and nervous systems appeared. In this talk, I will describe remarkable capabilities of cell groups as they create, repair, and remodel complex anatomies. Anatomical homeostasis reveals that groups of cells are collective intelligences; their cognitive medium is the same as that of the human mind: electrical signals propagating in cell networks. I will explain non-neural bioelectricity and the tools we use to track the basal cognition of cells and tissues and control their function for applications in regenerative medicine. I will conclude with a discussion of our framework based on evolutionary scaling of intelligence by pivoting conserved mechanisms that allow agents, whether designed or evolved, to navigate complex problem spaces.

TALK MATERIALS
· The Electrical Blueprints that Orchestrate Life (TED Talk): https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_levin_the_electrical_blueprints_that_orchestrate_life
· Michael Levin's interviews and presentations: https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/levin/presentations/
· Michael Levin's publications: https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/levin/publications/
· The Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms (ICDO): https://icdorgs.org/

MICHAEL LEVIN
Department of Biology, Tufts University: https://as.tufts.edu/biology
Tufts University profile: https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/levin/
Wyss Institute profile: https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/associate-faculty/michael-levin-ph-d/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Levin_(biologist)
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=luouyakAAAAJ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-levin-b0983a6/

SEMF NETWORKS
Website: https://semf.org.es
Twitter: https://twitter.com/semf_nexus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/semf-nexus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/semf.nexus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/semf.nexus

MUSIC
https://www.youtube.com/user/Baroquenoise

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 INTRODUCTION
00:01:27 All intelligence is collective intelligence
00:03:45 Main points of the talk
00:04:32 Single cell spatial competencies
00:06:19 Outline of the talk

00:06:46 PLASTICITY
00:08:18 Planarian memories survive brain regeneration
00:09:29 Tadpoles can see with artificially implanted eyes
00:10:42 Biological systems have competency in different scales and spaces
00:12:56 Planaria regenerates head with new adaptive gene expression
00:15:06 Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere

00:16:34 INTELLIGENT NAVIGATION IN MORPHOSPACE
00:16:34 Where are anatomy and shape encoded in biology?
00:17:55 Biomedical endgame: anatomical compiler
00:19:01 Unpredictability of anatomy of chimeric species: frogolotls
00:19:59 Hardware and software: analogy between nowadays biology and 40s-50s computer science
00:21:15 What is morphospace?
00:23:26 Examples of natural regeneration
00:25:15 Cells change molecular mechanisms to adapt shape to artifical constraints
00:27:05 Induced frog leg regenration takes different path than default limb development
00:28:08 Facial mispatterning in tadpoles still ends in normal frog faces
00:29:36 Feedback loops in pattern homeostasis and goal-directedness

00:31:34 BIOELECTRICITY
00:31:38 Usual example of bioelectricity explaining goal-directedness: the brain
00:32:49 Generalizing: non-brain tissues also encode goals through bioelectricity
00:34:36 Reading and writing electrical information in non-brain tissues
00:35:29 Reading #1: “electric face” before face development
00:36:45 Reading #2: electric signature before tumor development
00:37:12 Writing electrical information in non-brain tissues using neuroscience tools
00:38:12 Writing #1: inducing voltage patterns that develop organs and limbs
00:40:16 Writing #2: inducing limb regeneration
00:42:08 Writing #3: inducing anatomical memory that produces two-headed planaria when injured
00:47:01 Writing #4: inducing shape changes
00:48:36 Developing quantitative, predictive models
00:49:27 Writing #5: correcting brain defects using model predictions
00:51:14 Electroceutical drugs

00:52:09 TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MIND EVERYWHERE
00:52:18 Different scales of biological systems have different goals
00:55:00 Potential application to reverse cancer
00:55:48 Diversity of intelligences
00:57:16 Multi-scale control and up-scaling goals across spaces
00:59:01 Behavior of skin cells clusters when isolated: xenobots
01:07:15 Overview of the Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere
01:08:00 The space of intelligent agents and its implications for ethics

(From Youtube)