Michael Levin: commitment

Transcript context

…So your work is focused on starting at the physics, going all the way to friendship and love and psychoanalysis. Yeah, although actually I would turn that upside down. I think that pyramid is backwards, and I think it’s behavior science at the bottom. I think it’s behavior science all the way. I think in certain ways, even math is the behavior of a certain kind of being that lives in a latent space, and physics is what we call systems that at least look to be amenable to a very simple, low-agency kind of model, and so on. But that’s what I’m interested in, is understanding that and developing applications. Because it’s very important to me that what we do is transition deep ideas and philosophy into actual practical applications that not only make it clear whether we’re making any progress or not, but also allow us to relieve suffering and make life better for all sentient beings, and enable us and others to reach their full potential. So these are very practical things, I think. Behavioral science, I suppose, is more subjective, and mathematics and physics is more objective? Would that be the clear difference?…

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