scholarly journals Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere (TAME): an experimentally- grounded framework for understanding diverse bodies and minds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Levin
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Technological Approach ◽  
Embodied Agency ◽  
Active Subunits

Synthetic biology and bioengineering provide the opportunity to create novel embodied cognitive systems (otherwise known as minds) in a very wide variety of chimeric architectures combining evolved and designed material and software. These advances are disrupting familiar concepts in the philosophy of mind, and require new ways of thinking about and comparing truly diverse intelligences, whose composition and origin are not like any of the available natural model species. In this Perspective, I introduce TAME - Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere - a framework for understanding and manipulating cognition in unconventional substrates. TAME formalizes a non-binary (continuous), empirically-based approach to strongly embodied agency. When applied to regenerating/developmental systems, TAME suggests a perspective on morphogenesis as an example of basal cognition. The deep symmetry between problem-solving in anatomical, physiological, transcriptional, and 3D (traditional behavioral) spaces drives specific hypotheses by which cognitive capacities can scale during evolution. An important medium exploited by evolution for joining active subunits into greater agents is developmental bioelectricity, implemented by pre-neural use of ion channels and gap junctions to scale cell-level feedback loops into anatomical homeostasis. This architecture of multi-scale competency of biological systems has important implications for plasticity of bodies and minds, greatly potentiating evolvability. Considering classical and recent data from the perspectives of computational science, evolutionary biology, and basal cognition, reveals a rich research program with many implications for cognitive science, evolutionary biology, regenerative medicine, and artificial intelligence.

scholarly journals The Power and Promise of Developmental Systems Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letitia Meynell
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Developmental Systems Theory ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Political Theories

I argue that it is time for many feminists to rethink their attitudes towards evolutionary biology, not because feminists have been wrong to be deeply sceptical about many of its claims, both explicit and implicit, but because biology itself has changed. A new appreciation for the importance of development in biology has become mainstream and a new ontology, associated with developmental systems theory (DST), has been introduced over the last two decades. This turn challenges some of the features of evolutionary biology that have most troubled feminists. DST undermines the idea of biological essences and challenges both nature/nurture and nature/culture distinctions. Freed from these conceptual constraints, evolutionary biology no longer poses the problems that have justified feminist scepticism. Indeed, feminists have already found useful applications for DST and I argue that they should expand their use of DST to support more radical and wide-ranging political theories.

Editor's Introduction

2001 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
D. M. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Body Problem ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Intentional Content ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Cognitive Ethology ◽  
Royal Institute ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
The Mind

The papers collected in this volume are the proceedings of the 1999 Royal Institute of Philosophy conference: the theme of the conference, the same as the title of this collection, Naturalism, Evolution and Mind. The essays collected here cover a wide array of disparate themes in philosophy, psychology, evolutionary biology and the philosophy of science. They range in subject matter from the mind/body problem and the nature of philosophical naturalism, to the naturalization of psychological norms to the naturalization of phenomenal and intentional content, from the methodology cognitive ethology to issues in evolutionary psychology. They are united by the simple thought that the great promise of current naturalism in philosophy of mind resides in its potential to reveal mental phenomena as continuous with other phenomena of the natural world, particularly with other biological phenomena.

scholarly journals An evaluation of pool-sequencing transcriptome-based exon capture for population genomics in non-model species

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emeline Deleury ◽  
Thomas Guillemaud ◽  
Aurélie Blin ◽  
Eric Lombaert
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Harmonia Axyridis ◽  
Population Genomics ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Allele Frequencies ◽  
Technical Solution ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Exon Capture

AbstractExon capture coupled to high-throughput sequencing constitutes a cost-effective technical solution for addressing specific questions in evolutionary biology by focusing on expressed regions of the genome preferentially targeted by selection. Transcriptome-based capture, a process that can be used to capture the exons of non-model species, is use in phylogenomics. However, its use in population genomics remains rare due to the high costs of sequencing large numbers of indexed individuals across multiple populations. We evaluated the feasibility of combining transcriptome-based capture and the pooling of tissues from numerous individuals for DNA extraction as a cost-effective, generic and robust approach to estimating the variant allele frequencies of any species at the population level. We designed capture probes for ∼5 Mb of chosen de novo transcripts from the Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis (5,717 transcripts). We called ∼300,000 bi-allelic SNPs for a pool of 36 non-indexed individuals. Capture efficiency was high, and pool-seq was as effective and accurate as individual-seq for detecting variants and estimating allele frequencies. Finally, we also evaluated an approach for simplifying bioinformatic analyses by mapping genomic reads directly to targeted transcript sequences to obtain coding variants. This approach is effective and does not affect the estimation of SNP allele frequencies, except for a small bias close to some exon ends. We demonstrate that this approach can also be used to predict the intron-exon boundaries of targeted de novo transcripts, making it possible to abolish genotyping biases near exon ends.

Entailments of the Cellular Basis of Consciousness Stance

2018 ◽  
pp. 162-220
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Reber
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Cellular Basis ◽  
Cognitive Neurosciences ◽  
Hierarchical Nature

The CBC model has a number of implications for evolutionary biology, the cognitive neurosciences, consciousness science, micro- and cell-biology, and philosophy, particularly the philosophy of mind. A section covers the hierarchical nature of evolutionary mechanisms emphasizing why basic, early evolved functions (like awareness) become fixed and stable and are present in all later-evolved species. Special sections cover other, related topics such as reductionism (where a pragmatic form is recommended), the need to avoid an uncomfortable mysterianism that has crept into philosophy, whether plants are also conscious (probably not but I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise), ethical considerations of universal sentience, and the possibility of altruism in bacteria. A cluster of specific problems that emerge from the CBC also are discussed, such as how multicellular species emerged, how the sentience of single-celled organisms morphed into the focal awareness of the collective.

scholarly journals A transplantation experiment yields no evidence for phenotypic plasticity in shell band width in Cepaea nemoralis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Menno Schilthuizen ◽  
Ruth K. Scheid ◽  
Lia J. J. den Daas
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Band Width ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Colour Variation ◽  
Cepaea Nemoralis ◽  
Transplantation Experiment ◽  
The Common ◽  
Spiral Bands

AbstractThe common European grove snail, Cepaea nemoralis (Helicidae), has been a model species in genetics and evolutionary biology for over a century thanks largely to its genetic shell colour polymorphism. Although most aspects of its shell colour variation are known to be purely genetic, with little or no phenotypic plasticity involved, the width of the spiral bands has been suspected to display a certain amount of plasticity. To test this, we conducted a transplantation experiment, in which 548 growing banded snails were marked and transplanted, either within the same habitat (open or closed vegetation, displaying 19% and 61% band fusion, respectively) or between habitat types. The numbers recaptured were low: 8%, 5% after removal of individuals that had not grown. Based on these samples, we did not find any substantial influence of transplantation on band width.

scholarly journals Cell-scale biophysical determinants of cell competition in epithelia

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gradeci ◽  
Anna Bove ◽  
Giulia Vallardi ◽  
Alan R Lowe ◽  
Shiladitya Banerjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Cell Competition ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Cellular Factors ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Outstanding Question ◽  
Kinetics Of

How cells with different genetic makeups compete in tissues is an outstanding question in developmental biology and cancer research. Studies in recent years have revealed that cell competition can either be driven by short-range biochemical signalling or by long-range mechanical stresses in the tissue. To date, cell competition has generally been characterised at the population scale, leaving the single-cell-level mechanisms of competition elusive. Here, we use high time-resolution experimental data to construct a multi-scale agent-based model for epithelial cell competition and use it to gain a conceptual understanding of the cellular factors that governs competition in cell populations within tissues. We find that a key determinant of mechanical competition is the difference in homeostatic density between winners and losers, while differences in growth rates and tissue organisation do not affect competition end result. In contrast, the outcome and kinetics of biochemical competition is strongly influenced by local tissue organisation. Indeed, when loser cells are homogenously mixed with winners at the onset of competition, they are eradicated; however, when they are spatially separated, winner and loser cells coexist for long times. These findings suggest distinct biophysical origins for mechanical and biochemical modes of cell competition.

scholarly journals Eco-evolutionary Biology: Feeding and Feedback Loops

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. R161-R164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Beckerman ◽  
Dylan Z. Childs ◽  
Alan O. Bergland
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Feedback Loops

Dennett, Daniel Clement (1942–)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Lycan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Propositional Attitude ◽  
Propositional Attitudes ◽  
Qualitative Character ◽  
Daniel Dennett

A student of Gilbert Ryle and a connoisseur of cognitive psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology, American philosopher Daniel Dennett has urged Rylean views in the philosophy of mind, especially on each title topic of his first book,Content and Consciousness (1969). He defends a broadly instrumentalist view of propositional attitudes (such as belief and desire) and their intentional contents; like Ryle and the behaviourists, Dennett rejects the idea of beliefs and desires as causally active inner states of people. Construing them in a more purely operational or instrumental fashion, he maintains instead that belief- and desire-ascriptions are merely calculational devices. Dennett offers a severely deflationary account of consciousness, subjectivity and the phenomenal or qualitative character of sensory states. He maintains that those topics are conceptually posterior to that of propositional-attitude content: the qualitative features of which we are directly conscious in experience are merely the intentional contents of judgments.

The First Minds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Reber
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Hard Problem ◽  
Primitive Form ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Metabolic States ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Standard Models ◽  
Perceptual Systems

The book presents a novel theory of the origins of mind and consciousness dubbed the Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC). It argues that sentience emerged with life itself. The most primitive unicellular species of bacteria are conscious, though it is a sentience of a primitive kind. They have minds, though they are tiny and limited in scope. There is nothing even close to this thesis in the current literature on consciousness. Hints that cells might be conscious can be found in the writings of a few cell biologists, but a fully developed theory has never been put forward before. Other approaches to the origins of consciousness are examined and shown to be seriously or fatally flawed, specifically ones based on: (a) the assumption that minds are computational and can be captured by an artificial intelligence (AI), (b) efforts to discover the neurocorrelates of mental experiences, the so-called Hard Problem, and (c) looking for consciousness in less complex species by identifying those that possess precursors of those neurocorrelates. Each of these approaches is shown to be either essentially impossible (the AI models) or so burdened by philosophical and empirical difficulties that they are effectively unworkable. The CBC approach is developed using standard models of evolutionary biology. The remarkable repertoire of single-celled species that micro- and cell-biologists have discovered is reviewed. Bacteria, for example, have sophisticated sensory and perceptual systems, learn, form memories, make decisions based on information about their environment relative to internal metabolic states, communicate with one another, and even show a primitive form of altruism. All such functions are indicators of sentience. Conversations with a caterpillar function as a literary vehicle Finally, the implications of the CBC model are discussed along with a number of related issues in evolutionary biology, philosophy of mind, the possibility of sentient plants, the ethical repercussions of universal animal sentience, and the long-range impact of adopting the CBC stance.

scholarly journals Computer Simulation of Granulopoiesis: Normal and Impaired Granulopoiesis

Blood ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC A. KING-SMITH ◽  
ALEC MORLEY
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Computer Model ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Controlled System ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Low Amplitude

Abstract A computer model simulating granulopoiesis has been constructed on the basis of two feedback loops, one controlling the rate of production of granulocytes at the stem cell level, the other controlling the rate of release of granulocytes into the blood. This model reproduced the low-amplitude neutrophil oscillation reported in normal individuals and, when mild and severe marrow failure were simulated, resulted in states resembling cyclical and severe noncyclical neutropenia, respectively. The results provide evidence that a number of the periodic features shown by normal and abnormal granulopoiesis occur because granulopoiesis is a feedback-controlled system and suggest that the main assumptions of the model have physical reality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document