Against Mind-blindness: Recognizing and Communicating with Agential Materials and Beyond - Michael Levin

Michael Levin discusses agency, intelligence, and cognition, arguing for a unified framework that moves beyond traditional categories separating living organisms, machines, and other entities. He uses the electromagnetic spectrum as an analogy, advocating for a broader understanding of diverse intelligences, including animals, engineered lifeforms, AIs, and even patterns within media. Levin introduces the concept of the "axis of persuadability" and emphasizes an engineering approach to agential claims, focusing on interaction protocols and empirical evidence. He presents experimental work involving cells and bioelectric networks, suggesting that morphogenesis is the behavior of a collective intelligence in anatomical space. Levin also explores non-biological agents, hybrids, and minimal agents, questioning the binary categories of life and machine and proposing that these entities interface with a platonic space of patterns. He concludes by highlighting the responsibilities of significant minds, including setting boundaries, interpreting memories, and hacking their parts towards large-scale goals, advocating for ethical synth-biosis in a world of diverse intelligences.