Elastic bands -- and hatching eggs Zoom conference details

[Aaron Sloman]

Copying to FOM as a few people seemed to be interested.
The Levin talk in response to mine may be of particular interest to
anyone short of time!

Zoom details included.

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A 3 hour Plenary event of the 2021 Summit of the International
Society for the Study of Information (IS4SI) September 12-19, 2021
will be available via zoom on Wednesday 15th Sept 13:00-16:00 UTC (14:00-17:00 BST)

It includes two lectures, 13:00 UTC (Sloman) and 14:00 UTC (Levin)) followed by
a 1 hour discussion (15:00 UTC)

INVITED SPEAKERS:
Aaron Sloman, Honorary professor of AI and Cognitive Science
School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs

Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor
School of Arts and Sciences, Biology, Tufts University,
https://as.tufts.edu/biology/people/faculty/michael-levin

SESSION CHAIR: Professor Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic.
https://gordana.se/
Professor of Computer Science Mälardalen University
& Professor of Interaction Design Chalmers University of Technology

Chair's overview of the event:

   Cognition and intelligence as species-specific; their origins and manifestations

   This keynote dialogue searches deep into the roots of cognition and intelligence
   in their substrate and in mechanisms that lead to advanced behaviors hard to
   explain within the framework of our conventional models of computation. It
   addresses computation as morphogenesis (the origin and development of
   morphological characteristics, such as shape, form and material composition in
   material bodies) on different levels of organization: physical, chemical,
   biological, cognitive, and virtual-machine computation built on top of them in
   two keynote talks given by two of the most original and creative researchers
   within this field, Aaron Sloman, and Michael Levin.

   The idea of the keynote dialogue started in the context of the MORCOM conference
   with focus on morphological computing, that is natural (unconventional)
   computing based on morphological properties of computing substrate.

   However, soon it was clear that the topic and the dialogue is of general
   interest for the IS4SI community and was made a plenary keynote event.

   This dialogue is indeed a meeting of two extraordinary minds, with clear
   scientific agenda deeply rooted in philosophical understanding, and transcending
   boundaries of variety of knowledge domains and practical applications. To
   mention but a few research fields involved: computing, biology, chemistry,
   physics, cognitive science, intelligence science including biological and
   artificial intelligence, robotics, medicine, philosophy and more. Aaron Sloman
   and Michael Levin are opening new research avenues and anticipate coming
   developments with relevance for multiple knowledge communities and practical
   applications.

The session has three hour-long parts (with short intervals) (a),(b),(c), listed
below, all using the IS4SI Conference Day 4 zoom link:

    https://bcg.zoom.us/j/96656864939?pwd=eGUzZ3VKTHlmMVVPZDhHUUorZGMvUT09
or
    Address: 96656864939  Password: eGUzZ3VKTHlmMVVPZDhHUUorZGMvUT09

PART 1: Aaron Sloman (13:00 UTC, 14:00 BST)
    Why don't hatching alligator eggs ever produce chicks?

SHORT ABSTRACT
How can chemical processes in eggs produce animals with both fully formed
(infant) bodies and also significant forms of spatial cognition, illustrated by
this 35 second clip from the BBC Springwatch Programme in June 2021.
https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/movies/avocets/avocet-hatchlings.mp4

It is suggested that the answers are related to problems in philosophy of
mathematics (e.g. Kant's observations about ancient mathematical discoveries
involving necessity and impossibility) and philosophy of mind. Currently popular
neural models based on derivation of probabilities from statistical evidence,
cannot explain ancient discoveries concerning impossibility or necessity,
centuries before Euclid.

A longer abstract, including speculation about coordination mechanisms required
for later stages of foetus development in eggs, is available online at

https://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/cogaff/misc/IS4SI_MORCOM_IWNC/sloman-abstract.html

-----------------------------------------------------

PART 2: Response by Michael Levin

ABSTRACT:

Embryos and regenerating systems produce very complex, robust anatomical
structures and stop growth and remodeling when those structures are complete.
One of the most remarkable things about morphogenesis is that it is not simply a
feed-forward emergent process, but one that has massive plasticity: even when
disrupted by manipulations such as damage or changing the sizes of cells, the
system often manages to achieve its morphogenetic goal. How do cell collectives
know what to build and when to stop? In this talk, I will highlight some
important knowledge gaps about this process of anatomical homeostasis that
remain despite progress in molecular genetics. I will then offer a perspective
on morphogenesis as an example of a goal-directed collective intelligence that
solves problems in morphospace and physiological space. I will sketch the
outlines of a framework in which evolution pivots strategies to solve problems
in these spaces and adapts them to behavioral space via brains. Neurons evolved
from far more ancient cell types that were already using bioelectrical network
to coordinate morphogenesis long before brains appeared. I will show examples of
our work to read and write the bioelectric information that serves as the
computational medium of cellular collective intelligences, enabling significant
control over growth and form. I will conclude with a new example that sheds
light on anatomic plasticity and the relationship between genomically-specified
hardware and the software that guides morphogenesis: synthetic living
proto-organisms known as Xenobots. In conclusion, a new perspective on
morphogenesis as an example of unconventional basal cognition unifies several
fields (evolutionary biology, cell biology, cognitive science, computer science)
and has many implications for practical advances in regenerative medicine,
synthetic bioengineering, and AI.

Video introduction to Xenobots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQRBCCjaYGE&t=6s

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PART 3: (Approx 15:00 UTC, 16:BST)

Discussion including audience members.
Chaired by Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic.
(Her introductory note is above)

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More conference details for IS4SI, 12-19 September

https://summit-2021.is4si.org/schedule#h.f5onw5xf8tfq

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Aaron Sloman,
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs