Unconventional Embodiments of Consciousness: A Diverse Intelligence Research Program - Michael Levin

Michael Levin presents a talk that diverges from his usual biology-focused presentations, venturing into the realm of consciousness and unconventional intelligence. He claims that cognitive and neuroscience tools can be applied beyond their traditional domains, leading to new discoveries and capabilities. Levin argues for considering the possibility of consciousness in various body structures and diverse embodiments, advocating for a shift away from human-centric, 3D-space-focused perspectives. He introduces a framework for understanding different agents, from familiar creatures to engineered life forms and AIs, emphasizing the importance of actionable experimental approaches and ethical frameworks. Levin touches on collective intelligence, morphogenesis, and synthetic morphology, using examples like xenobots to explore how goals and cognitive capacities arise, even without a history of selection. He proposes that patterns in mathematical objects, independent of physics or evolutionary history, influence the physical world, suggesting that minds may interface with a structured space of truths, impacting the behavior of even simple systems like sorting algorithms.