Biology student interested in Astrobiology, Bioenergetics, Basal Cognition, the Origins of Life on Earth, and the Search for Life Elsewhere in the Universe.
Gairloch, Scotland
Joined May 2024
- Tweets423
- Following209
- Followers80
- Likes2K
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Website is live for the mcDonald UAP Toolkit
mcdonald.bluemarblespace.org…
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
As many of you know ,I do portraits on commission, I'm taking bookings for Christmas, book early to avoid disappointment
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
The details for our (@DrPatrickE) cell trainer platform are up!
drmichaellevin.org/resources…
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
“One of the worst things that slows down progress is the concept of 'emergence.'”
This week on 632nm, @drmichaellevin (@TuftsUniversity) argues that the concept of emergence can hold science back by treating unexpected biological behavior as an explanation rather than something to investigate.
“Emergence just means surprise... You didn’t see it coming.”
If we call something “emergent,” we still need to explain why this behavior emerged instead of another. The goal should be to understand the underlying patterns well enough to predict and control them.
We discuss how this perspective could reshape biology, our understanding of intelligence, and AI.
Full episode on X and YouTube (see comment).
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:16 - Platonic Space
03:55 - Biology in the Absence of Evolution
21:11 - Extracting Knowledge from Platonic Space
37:04 - Development and Loss Functions
50:09 - Investigating Layers of Control
55:35 - Is Computer Science Misleading Our Understanding of Minds?
58:14 - Bioelectric Patterns and Drug Discovery
1:04:07 - How to Build a Predictive Developmental Model
1:13:20 - Levin’s Top Books, Thoughts on Collective Existence
1:18:00 - Questions that Keep Michael Up at Night
1:22:32 - How Does Levin Interact with AI?
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
I've been writing the ENERGY book for more than a year—with all my early morning time, weekends, and a few productive writing retreats. This book weaves together the science of energy and our research on mitochondria with stories of lived experiences, including some of our own and many others. I also share practical evidence-based guidance on how to apply energetic principles into our lives: ways to live a scientifically-informed, energetically-inspired life.
The full draft is now with the publisher. The book should launch early 2028. Translated in nine languages so far. Can't wait to share this with everyone!
I am grateful for the amazing people who are working on bringing this book to life and sharing it with the world. More here: energy-book.com/
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Support the search for UAP!
The mcDonald UAP Toolkit is a frame-by-frame analysis toolkit for measuring the kinematics of an unknown object in a single-camera video. You can help propel our deterministic and open source scientific investigation of UAP
zeffy.com/en-US/donation-for…
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
The origin of life, a continuing puzzle !
bigthink.com/science-tech/th…
I’m in Oregon visiting my parents and just couldn’t help myself! US 20 is pretty cool - it runs all the way from coast to coast, connecting Newport to Boston! Two cities that share a fondness for clam chowder (not the red one!). Anyone in Boston have a photo of the Newport sign?
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Meet The Scientist Redefining Intelligence With Michael Levin
"There's a FALSE assumption that Intelligence and cognition is rare in the tree of life and late in the evolutionary story. This is very wrong".
"Many of the characteristics, morphology, behaviour, phenotypes of organisms are not determined by their genes."
"Learning only needs a dynamical system made out of interactions that give way under stress. No genes necessary"
The remarkable @RichardWatson90, a coauthor on many papers with @drmichaellevin is live now! ⬇️
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Viewing the body and it's systems as a machine can be practical and useful in some situations. But our bodies don't work like molecular machines. In this video, I share some thoughts on how our minds and our experiences influence health and diseases, and the healing process.
More on this on the TSEE Substack:
• Do Mitochondria Drive Mind-Body Processes?
tseenergy.substack.com/p/res…
• Is the Mind an Energy Pattern?
tseenergy.substack.com/p/is-…
Very cool. This suggests that age can be rewritten.
When an older heart is transplanted into a younger person, it doesn't stay "old." Vadim Gladyshev's lab shows the heart actually starts aging on the timeline of the body it's now living in — its biological age shifts to match the recipient, not the original donor, at the molecular level.
biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
I used to think that basal cognition & the origins of life were separate studies. But now I suspect the two are intrinsically linked. That regardless of whether a system grows, replicates, metabolizes, or undergoes Darwinian evolution, for it to be “alive,” it must have agency.
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Out today in Planetary Perspectives, Rajat Bhushan Gupta writes on the new research article he co-authored with other Blue Marble Space scholars and affiliates on the ways that astrobiology connects with human space exploration.
Read more here: planetaryperspectives.substa… #astrobiology @BlueMarbleSpace
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Very excited to read this fully.
After 150 episodes of Giants Shoulder I still subscribe to a version of biological naturalism.
1/3 Conscious AI and Biological Naturalism. A veeery loooong time in the making, but I'm happy to say that the full collection is now out in @BBSJournal 🔥 I deeply thank all commentators - of fifty commentaries! - for their wise, broad, and deep opinions on this critical topic. I also thank them for their saintly patience. 🙏🏽
I remain highly skeptical about the prospects for conscious AI (for silicon digital systems), but I've learned an enormous amount from the privilege of engaging with these commentaries. Hands down one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life.
My hope is that - whether you agree with me or not - having such a diversity of views collected in one place will serve a useful resource for discussions about consciousness and AI.
The original target article is available here: cambridge.org/core/journals/…
My response "The stuff matters: consciousness, computation, and biology" was published just now, and is here: cambridge.org/core/journals/…
And the set of 50 commentaries are collected here: cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Unfortunately these are not open access. I will try to remedy that, at least for the target & response.
FWIW there's a more accessible version of my view on the topic here in @NoemaMag noemamag.com/the-mythology-o… and also a short @TEDTalks from earlier this year ted.com/talks/anil_seth_why_…
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
The roundworm has a brain, 302 neurons, tiny but real. A Dileptus has none. It's a single cell. No brain, no nerves, nothing. Yet both turn, back up, poke around, change their minds. If a single cell can explore with no brain, where does intelligence actually live?
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
As Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Month continues, we're highlighting another aspect of mitochondria that people typically don't get to see.
Mitochondria are dynamic. They move, change shape, fuse, divide, process information, and send signals that are important for our health.
This short video gives you an up-close look at mitochondria in motion.
Curious about your multi-faceted mitochondria? Here are a few TSEE Substack pieces celebrating their amazing biology:
Discovering How Mitochondria Communicate
tseenergy.substack.com/p/dis…
Mitochondrial Terminology Reimagined
tseenergy.substack.com/p/mit…
This must have been what it felt like to read Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ when it was first published. Dr. Levin’s hypothesis about Platonic Space, if correct, will revolutionize the way we view living matter & intelligence. What an exciting time to be an embodied mind!
Here it is - the official, revised, peer-reviewed version of my Platonic Space paper. mdpi.com/2409-9287/11/5/161 Of all the many unpopular positions I’ve taken over the decades - bitter controversies around the origin of left-right asymmetry in embryogenesis, bioelectricity and genetics, diverse intelligence, etc., this one has by far generated the most pushback: serious (grateful for those!) and energetic attempts to move me to other views, pleas to just drop it and not talk about it (for several different reasons), nasty emails and accusations, impacts on reviews of papers that have nothing to do with this, etc. Kind of amazing to me how incendiary this is. What can I say... Our job is to call it as we see it, and right now for me, this is it. Apologies to collaborators and colleagues for any shrapnel! Time will tell if this pans out or not; I've placed my bets. And btw, if you think this stuff is weird and uncomfortable, just wait… There’s much more on the way. The knob turns slowly but as long as the data keep coming, I'm going to say what I think it all means and follow it to the next steps it enables. Buckle up!
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
Here it is - the official, revised, peer-reviewed version of my Platonic Space paper. mdpi.com/2409-9287/11/5/161 Of all the many unpopular positions I’ve taken over the decades - bitter controversies around the origin of left-right asymmetry in embryogenesis, bioelectricity and genetics, diverse intelligence, etc., this one has by far generated the most pushback: serious (grateful for those!) and energetic attempts to move me to other views, pleas to just drop it and not talk about it (for several different reasons), nasty emails and accusations, impacts on reviews of papers that have nothing to do with this, etc. Kind of amazing to me how incendiary this is. What can I say... Our job is to call it as we see it, and right now for me, this is it. Apologies to collaborators and colleagues for any shrapnel! Time will tell if this pans out or not; I've placed my bets. And btw, if you think this stuff is weird and uncomfortable, just wait… There’s much more on the way. The knob turns slowly but as long as the data keep coming, I'm going to say what I think it all means and follow it to the next steps it enables. Buckle up!
Kelly Dobitz retweeted
🌌 Life And Space 2026 is coming!
Join the international online astrobiology conference organized by the Polish Astrobiology Society, December 4–6, 2026.
📅 Registration opens October 1
💻 Online | 💵 $25
🔗 astrobio.pl/LAS26
#Astrobiology #LAS26