Replies to the comments on
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
is now out here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"From complementarity to non-duality: Seeing objects and processes as pragmatic constructs"
New preprint with Léo Pio-Lopez:
www.preprints.org/manuscript/2...
"Multi-Scale Longevity: Defeating Aging from Cells to Embodied Human Minds, and the Future of the Species"
a broader view of longevity research.
Huh not sure, I'll check. Meanwhile, both are open to read at
osf.io/preprints/os...
A perspective, in 2 parts:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Mind Everywhere: A Framework for Conceptualizing Goal-Directedness in Biology and Other Domains—Parts One and Two
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Final version of this paper with Richard Watson is out!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Machines all the way up and cognition all the way down: Updating the machine metaphor in biology"
(quite a bit different than the original preprint at osf.io/preprints/os...).
Poster for the call. All relevant information is in thread
1/6
Excited to share the call for posters & registration for the 2nd XSCAPE Workshop: "Varieties of Externalism" !
📅 Friday, April 10th, 2026 — Gallery Room, Bramber House, University of Sussex
Registration is free but places are limited. 🧵
#naturephotography
Hi Phil! We should talk, there's a bunch of new work on this coming very soon. Some very interesting relationships between learning capacity in such networks and causal emergence, with implications for origin of life and evolution (and roots in math, not physics/chemistry).
New preprint with Giovanni Pezzulo:
arxiv.org/abs/2602.08079
Bootstrapping Life-Inspired Machine Intelligence: The Biological Route from Chemistry to Cognition and Creativity
Bingo! That chemical brain can do several kinds of learning:
www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24...
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
w/ positive feedback loop with causal emergence:
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
also see www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38372...
and problem-solving: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
New preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2601.14096
@chrisfields38.bsky.social
@bhartl.bsky.social
Leo Pio-Lopez
"Remapping and navigation of an embedding space via error minimization: a fundamental organizational principle of cognition in natural and artificial systems"
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What kinds of cognitions are possible? Are there discrete classes of cognition? Here's our new paper with @brigan.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social @mitibennett.bsky.social @mkhochb.bsky.social and @drmichaellevin.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837 We explore basal, neural and human-AI spaces.
Hmm I'm unsure of the distinction you are drawing. We cannot detect (are blind to) X-rays for example, and have built up theories of far-off objects in space based on detectors. Is this basically an argument against Naive Realism or something else?
superb, thanks!
#naturephotography
A new, long paper on evolution - natural induction - split into 2:
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsfs/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsfs/article...
@RichardWatson90 and Tim Lewens
#naturephotography #infrared
#naturephotography
#naturephotography
Final version is out: @LPiolopez
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
"Atavistic Genetic Expression Dissociation (AGED) DuringAging: Meta-Phylostratigraphic Evidence of Cellular andTissue-Level Phylogenetic Dissociation"
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Final version is out:
authors.elsevier.com/c/1mEoa5bD-s...
"Neural cellular automata: Applications to biology and beyond classical AI"
@bhartl.bsky.social
Léo Pio-Lopez
#naturephotography #infrared
New preprint - Thomas Pollak (substack.com/@drtompollak), Anjali Bhat, Matt Butler, @rokberlot.bsky.social, Mark J Edwards
osf.io/preprints/ps...
"Have you tried switching it off and on again Mechanisms and therapeutic prospects of resetting homeostatic set points in medicine and neuropsychiatry"
at the same time *being clear about the direction of interventions we need to develop*, I'm perfectly willing to get on board. I'm not stuck with the terminology, I just want people to have the option to relieve suffering and live to whatever potential they can envision.
One other thing. While I'm never going to buy the idea that all outcomes are equal, I have no commitment to the specific terminology and I don't think there should be any pejorative associated with the labels. So if you've got some kind of vocabulary that you think will be helpful to people while
will be told that "it's just variety, don't label it as a disease", and suffering goes unchecked. If I had more time on my hands, I'd run your alternative past the people who email us and see how it lands. I can guess though.
in whatever configuration, to be treated with the utmost compassion and care. Once we pretend outcomes don't matter, then "diseases" disappear as a target of research, and people who need solutions for cancer, limb loss, degenerative conditions, and all kinds of horrific situations
Bottom line. The vocabulary matters when it comes time to decide whether to do research, and if so, in what direction. Patients want a choice about outcomes. Whatever vocabulary helps us communicate about what direction we're trying to push things, that's what we need. And of course I want everyone,
Or, perhaps the American Heart Association agrees with you. Nope:
www.heart.org/en/health-to...
And finally. It's not just scientists who "push back" on this idea that all outcomes are the same. Here's March of Dimes, the major foundation supporting fetal and maternal health: www.marchofdimes.org/find-support... ; are you boycotting their work?
