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Reposted by Evan Thompson

Boaz Nash @boazhsan.bsky.social · 2d

Excited to learn about the Blind Spot podcast with @evanthompson.bsky.social @adamfrank4.bsky.social and Marcelo Gleiser.

Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 9

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WchT...

The Blind Spot Podcast - Episode 9: Why Science Hasn't Solved Consciousness (Yet)

YouTube video by The Blind Spot Podcast

www.youtube.com

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · 16d

aeon.co/essays/why-q...

Why quantum mechanics needs phenomenology | Aeon Essays

The role of the conscious observer has posed a stubborn problem for quantum measurement. Phenomenology offers a solution

aeon.co

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 27

Death, Grief, and Radical Hope by @beckety.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/becketto...

Death, Grief, and Radical Hope

Crepe myrtle’s confetti of flowers.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Evan Thompson

Mariel Goddu @marielgoddu.bsky.social · Jul 18

Grappling w my identity as a reluctant enactivist...
My favorite formulation of the approach so far is @xabibaran.bsky.social's "Autonomy and enactivism: Towards a theory of sensorimotor autonomous agency" (2017)

link.springer.com/content/pdf/...

IMO, it does three great things:

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Evan Thompson

Xabier Barandiaran @xabibaran.bsky.social · Aug 23

How ChatGPT is transforming agency:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

If you are interested on the ontological status of LLMs or want to get a better technical grasp on their internal functioning (without a maths or engineering background) this might be a good starting point.

Transforming agency: On the mode of existence of large language models - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - This paper investigates the ontological characterization of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Between inflationary and deflationary accounts, we...

link.springer.com

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

So, even in the case of the ecosphere, where oceans, atmosphere, rocks, biota, etc., self-produce each other under closure (according to Earth Systems Science/Gaia Theory), it would still happen via molecular synthesis (not mechanical replacement)

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

We need to distinguish organization and structure. Chemical processes are nomologically necessary to instantiate structurally the autopoietic organization in the physical world, because without them there's no material transformation. But the organization as such is defined without reference to them

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

No, they didn't have different views on this matter. Mechanical replacement is neither necessary nor sufficient for autopoiesis. They agreed completely on this.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Oh, and here's a primer in relation to the free energy principle (also not sufficient to characterize autopoiesis) philosophymindscience.org/index.php/ph...

Laying down a forking path: Tensions between enaction and the free energy principle | Philosophy and the Mind Sciences

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci) focuses on the interface between philosophy of mind, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. PhiMiSci is a peer-reviewed, not-for-profit open-access journal...

philosophymindscience.org

Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

academic.oup.com/book/5967

Sensorimotor Life: An enactive proposal

Abstract. This book elaborates a series of contributions to a non–representational theory of action and perception. It is based on current theoretical deve

academic.oup.com

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Chapters 5 & 6 www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Mind in Life — Harvard University Press

www.hup.harvard.edu

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

For further details, see these three books (in chronological order) + mitpress.mit.edu/978026255140...

Principles of Biological Autonomy

Francisco Varela’s Principles of Biological Autonomy was a groundbreaking text when it was first published in 1979, putting forth a novel theory of how...

mitpress.mit.edu

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

What you need is structural transformation+destruction (synthesis). The chemical domain is paradigmatic. Could it happen at a higher level? That's an open question but your system wouldn't qualify (but organs, multicellular organisms and maybe the whole ecosophere might). +

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

The simplest process that's minimally autopoietic would be an autocatalytic chemical reaction network that produces its own topological boundary (membrane).

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

That's not synthesis (chemical production/transformation + destruction). Synthesis = breaking + forming chemical bonds to create new molecular structures. (This could conceivably happen with different molecules than we know on Earth, so it is compositionally plastic.)

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

*or do they come from outside?*

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Does the system generate its own replacement elements (as a cell does) or are they do come from outside? If the latter, then the system is allopoietic, not autopoietic. Some elements can be replaced from outside but only into a system that is already autopoietic in the case of cellular life.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

No. Foreign elements can/must enter/exit (the system must be thermodynamically open) but it's definining organization (internal self-production network + self-produced topological boundary) must have closure.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

See M&V, 78-9: "production" = "transformation & destruction" (instantiated in/by molecular synthesis) within the system's topological unity (instantiated in/by the membrane), which itself results from (auto-)transformation & destruction. Your example doesn't meet any of these requirements.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

That's not the issue. A network/system is any definable set of processes but for them to be autopoietic they must be processes of production (molecular synthesis) - yours are not -that exhibit operational closure (every element is synthesized by another element in the system) - yours do not.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Yes.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 17

Sorry, *Eric's*

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 17

Here's the definition (as restated in a recent paper I did with Ezequiel Di Paolo and Randall Beer). Erik's robot is not a network of processes of production, let alone one that meets (i) and (ii).

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 17

Eric, your system is not anywhere near to being minimally autopoietic, according to the criteria set forth by Maturana and Varela and developed in the subsequent literature.

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Evan Thompson @evanthompson.bsky.social · Aug 14

So much for the Indian philosophical trope "horns of a rabbit" (used to signify nonexistence). www.cbc.ca/news/science...

Rabbits with strange horn-like growths spotted in Colorado | CBC News

Photos of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, horn-like growths have been circulating on social media. Scientists say the photos are literally viral.

www.cbc.ca

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