Cellosophy

Cognition and Intelligence in Unicellular Creatures

The Seamstress Who Solved the Ancient Mystery of the Argonaut, Pioneered the Aquarium, and Laid the Groundwork for the Study of Octopus Intelligence

“I armed myself with patience and courage, and only after several months managed to dissolve my doubts and see my research crowned with happy confirmation.”

EPISTEMIC STIGMERGY: NATURAL VS. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The article\(^{1}\) defends the thesis that intelligent behavior might require not internal complexity but complex interaction. This is demonstrated by the various forms of stigmergy that can be observed both in social insects and in humans. The exposition is structured as follows: (§0) explains how the term “intelligence” is interpreted in the following text; (§1) clarifies the relation between intelligence and complexity; (§2) shows that intelligent behavior does not require internal complexity; (§3) introduces the concept of stigmergy; (§4) presents the mechanisms that give rise to this phenomenon; (§5) distinguishes several types of stigmergic interaction; (§6) briefly discusses the evolutionary mechanisms that could have produced them; (§7) sketches the possible ways in which the concept of stigmergy is used outside biology; (§8) examines collaborative stigmergy in humans; (§9) points to its epistemic projections; (§10) outlines some conclusions concerning the role of artificial intelligence systems and their place in human society.

The Octotypic Mind

Carcinization, Cognitive Prosthetics, and the Shape of Intelligence After AI

Cybernetics is the science of the polycrisis

What Stafford Beer and Dan Davies say and why you need to read them

In the Cells of the Eggplant | Meta-rationality

An introduction to meta-rationality: ways of using rational systems more effectively by understanding how they relate to their contexts.

How to understand cells, tissues and organisms as agents with agendas | Aeon Essays

Biology’s next great horizon is to understand cells, tissues and organisms as agents with agendas (even if unthinking ones)

The cell membrane as the ‘missing link’ for the evolution of consciousness

While Prof. Torday agrees with Federico Faggin that quantum mechanics is salient to consciousness, he maintains that the role of the cell membrane—which separates an organism from its environment—is key to the selective assimilation or mirroring of the quantum properties of the cosmos into the differentiated consciousness of the organism. This essay is short, dense, and may be difficult to unpack. But it handsomely rewards the effort of the patient and determined reader. The many literature citations in the essay also provide rich ground for further exploration.

Introduction

What the Pentaract is and why does exists.

Torsten Goerke's blento

CS researcher & musician @hello.cubes.blue @atproto.science 🧪 @atproto.berlin 🧔