Why death and aging ? All memories are imperfect

Miller Jr, William B.; Baluška, František; Reber, Arthur S.; Slijepčević, Predrag

doi:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.02.001

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Moreover, by choosing a proper fitness function related to measuring scale-invariant pattern formation 107,143 , critical dynamics [144][145][146][147][148][149] , or applying the free-energy principle 141,150 , we are confident to achieve a biologically more accurate model of the scale-free dynamics and open-ended evolution of life. Such computational models could thus further quantitative studies of the communication strategies and boundaries of individual-and groups of cells in an agential, potentially adversarial Umwelt, with possible applications in individual-and collective aging (as morphostasis defects) 151,152 or cancer research 93,94,136 . number of N FF = 194 parameters (c.f., section III A).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary Implications of Multi-Scale Intelligence

Hartl,

Risi,

Levin

2024

Preprint

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In recent years, the scientific community has increasingly recognized the complex multi-scale competency architecture (MCA) of biology, comprising nested layers of active homeostatic agents, each forming the self orchestrated substrate for the layer above, and, in turn, relying on the structural and functional plasticity of the layer(s) below. The question of how natural selection could give rise to this MCA has been the focus of intense research. Here, we instead investigate the effects of such decision-making competencies of an MCA’s agential components on the process of evolution itself, using in-silico neuroevolution experiments of simulated, minimal developmental biology. We specifically model the process of morphogenesis with neural cellular automata (NCAs) and utilize an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the corresponding model parameters with the objective of collectively self-assembling a two-dimensional spatial target pattern (reliable morphogenesis). Furthermore, we systematically vary the accuracy with which an NCA’s uni-cellular agents can regulate their cell states (simulating stochastic processes and noise during development). This allowed us to continuously scale the agents’ competency levels from a direct encoding scheme (no competency) to an MCA (with perfect reliability in cell decision executions). We demonstrate that an evolutionary process proceeds much more rapidly when evolving the functional parameters of an MCA compared to evolving the target pattern directly. Moreover, the evolved MCAs generalize well toward system parameter changes and even modified objective functions of the evolutionary process. Thus, the adaptive problem-solving competencies of the agential parts in our NCA-based in-silico morphogenesis model strongly affect the evolutionary process, suggesting significant functional implications of the near-ubiquitous competency seen in living matter.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary Implications of Multi-Scale Intelligence

Hartl,

Risi,

Levin

2024

Preprint

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“…Our main kind of freedom is the freedom to continuously reinvent ourselves -freedom from our past Selves, whether genetic or cognitive, and their stale thoughts. 5 This is related to the concept of "precarious" in the enactive cognition field [18] and to ideas on the relationship between the different kinds of disorder and death in living systems and the need for freedom from fixed interpretations of the past [19]. Note that it is a matter of time-scale, with respect to how quickly various components degrade relatively to the job they do within the agent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 Because our memories are the reference point for everything else we think we know about ourselves -if our memories were changed, in a consistent way, we would never know. 19 and can actually lead to existential crises -"a thought that breaks the thinker" -for some. 20 There may be a useful definition of "life" that could be developed with respect to this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…seem to undermine the solidity of our personal identity 18 . They are disturbing, when people first hear about them 19 . Here, I argue that this is actually a powerful and important feature, arising from our ancient origins at the dawn of life and helping to understand many phenomena beyond brains and behavior.…”

Section: (A) (B)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every component of the system, including but not limited to those that bubble up to conscious recollections, could be using everything in its environment as an interpretable scratchpad 54 . The deep levels of biological structure and dynamics offer an incredibly high-dimensional reservoir [171][172][173] (referred to as the senome in [19,174]) that can be exploited for memory remapping 55 . On this view, neuronal networks are not so much used for holding memory as they are for learning to interpret the engrams embodied by subcellular components.…”

Section: What It Means and What Nextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-improvising Memory: a perspective on memories as agential, dynamically-reinterpreting cognitive glue

Levin

2024

Preprint

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Many studies of memory focus on the material substrate in which data can be stored and reliably read out. Here, I focus on the complementary aspects: the need for agents to dynamically re-interpret and modify memories to suit their ever-changing selves and environment. Using examples from developmental biology, evolution, and synthetic bioengineering, in addition to neuroscience, I propose that a perspective on memory as preserving salience, not fidelity, is applicable to many phenomena on scales from cells to societies. I focus on continuous commitment to confabulation, from the molecular to the behavioral levels, as the answer to the persistence paradox as it applies to individuals and whole lineages. I also speculate that a substrate-independent, processual view of life and mind suggests that memories, as patterns in the excitable medium of cognitive systems, could be seen as active agents in the sense-making process. I explore a view of life and agency as a diverse set of embodied Perspectives – nested agents who interpret each other’s and their own past messages and actions as best as they can (polycomputation). This synthesis suggests unifying symmetries across scales and disciplines, of relevance to research programs in diverse intelligence and the engineering of novel embodied minds.

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