BI 118 Johannes Jäger: Beyond Networks

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Johannes (Yogi) is a freelance philosopher, researcher & educator. We discuss many of the topics in his online course, Beyond Networks: The Evolution of Living Systems. The course is focused on the role of agency in evolution, but it covers a vast range of topics: process vs. substance metaphysics, causality, mechanistic dynamic explanation, teleology, the important role of development mediating genotypes, phenotypes, and evolution, what makes biological organisms unique, the history of evolutionary theory, scientific perspectivism, and a view toward the necessity of including agency in evolutionary theory. I highly recommend taking his course. We also discuss the role of agency in artificial intelligence, how neuroscience and evolutionary theory are undergoing parallel re-evaluations, and Yogi answers a guest question from Kevin Mitchell.

• Yogi's website and blog: Untethered in the Platonic Realm.
• Twitter: @yoginho.
• His youtube course: Beyond Networks: The Evolution of Living Systems.
• Kevin Mitchell's previous episode: BI 111 Kevin Mitchell and Erik Hoel: Agency, Emergence, Consciousness.

0:00 - Intro 4:10 - Yogi's background 11:00 - Beyond Networks - limits of dynamical systems models 16:53 - Kevin Mitchell question 20:12 - Process metaphysics 26:13 - Agency in evolution 40:37 - Agent-environment interaction, open-endedness 45:30 - AI and agency 55:40 - Life and intelligence 59:08 - Deep learning and neuroscience 1:03:21 - Mental autonomy 1:06:10 - William Wimsatt's biopsychological thicket 1:11:23 - Limtiations of mechanistic dynamic explanation 1:18:53 - Synthesis versus multi-perspectivism 1:30:31 - Specialization versus generalization