From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology:

Autopoiesis and Enaction

• Barry McMullin. "30 Years of Computational Autopoiesis: A Review". Full talk Audio 40:01 [mp3: 24Kbps, 5.7 Mb]. Reimplementation of the first computer simulation created to illustrate the concept of autopoiesis.
• Eric Goles. "Discrete Dynamical Systems and Undecidability (sand pile and ants)". Full talk Audio 25:26 [mp3: 24Kbps, 3.6 Mb]. Simple discrete dynamical system capable of universal computation.
• Steven Rose. "The Autopoietic Brain/Mind". Full talk Audio 31:40 [mp3: 24Kbps, 4.5 Mb]. Brain, mind, development, genes, and consciousness.
• Susan Oyama. "Development 'sin techo, sin muros'". Full talk Audio 50:38 [mp3: 24Kbps, 7.2 Mb]. Video Summary [asf: 2.4 Mb]. Issues in development: nature vs. nurture, boudnaries of 'self'...

Enaction and Cognition

• Antonio Coutinho. "Second Generation Immune Network". Full talk Audio 42:11 [mp3: 24Kbps, 6.0 Mb]. Model of the immune system. Autoimmune diseases have increased at the same rate that infectious diseases have decreased by the use of vaccines. The treatment of autoimmune disease should promote the activation of the immune system, not to repress it.
• Luc Steels. "Embodied Semiotics Dynamics". Full talk Audio 39:12 [mp3: 24Kbps, 5.6 Mb]. Computer experiments exploring the theories of the origins of shared colour categories, implementing ideas of embodiment, enactive cognition, and self-organization. See Also: Video Summary at EELC, with Tony Belpaeme [asf: 2.7 Mb].
• Alva Noë. "Experience Without the Head". Full talk Audio 47:20 [mp3: 24Kbps, 6.8 Mb]. Video Summary [asf: 2.4 Mb]. Issues on the boundaries of the mind, perception, and consciousness.
• Andy Clark. "Profound Embodiment". Full talk Audio 33:40 [mp3: 24Kbps, 4.8 Mb]. Video Summary [asf: 2.6 Mb]. The mind and its relationships with the body and environment. We are OF our world not just IN it.

Cognition and Neurosciences

• Paul Bach-y-Rita. "Emerging Concepts of Brain Function". Full talk Audio 33:07 [mp3: 64Kbps, 15.1 Mb, 24Kbps, 4.7 Mb] (Note: the audio was edited, removing moments where videos were shown demonstrating the remarkable results of sensory substitution). Video Summary [asf: 3.2 Mb]. Results of sensory substitution during the last 40 years. Blind people report seeing when a camera is connected to a 144-point touchpad in their tongue. Within minutes they are able to perform hand-eye coordination required to catch a ball rolling over a table. Resluts change the common view of what it is to feel. The videos shown and more information are available at www.wicab.com
• Diego Cosmelli. "Of Mountains and Valleys: Binocular Rivalry and the Flow of Human Experience". Full talk Audio 30:14 [mp3: 64Kbps, 13.8 Mb, 24Kbps, 4.3 Mb]. When each eye is shown a different image, there is spontaneus oscillation between the images, which can be measured.
• Jean-Philippe Lachaux and Michel Lê Van Quyen. "The Brain Web : Large-scale Integration in the Neural System". Full talk Audio 43:13 [mp3: 64Kbps, 19.7 Mb, 24Kbps, 6.1 Mb]. Part 1: Structures in subjective experience can trap attention. Can we correlate with structures in brain function? Some correlates have been detected with brain scans during perception of faces (compared with the same image upside down, which is not recognized). Part 2: Does the brain operate near a critical state (Turing, 1957)? The Brain-web seems to be scale-free, since there are power law distributions both functionally and structurally. Therefore, there is (some) scale invariance in the brain.

(L to R) Paul Bach-y-Rita, Diego Cosmelli, Michel Lê Van Quyen, and Jean-Philippe Lachaux

Consciouness and Practice

• Matthieu Ricard. "From Mind Training to Brain Plasticity, Cultivating the Inner Conditions for Well-being". Full talk Audio 33:30 [mp3: 64Kbps, 15.3 Mb, 24Kbps, 4.8 Mb]. Video Summary [asf: 3.1 Mb]. First person experiences on Buddhist meditation. Gamma activity of the brain, detected during moments of visual consciousness (e.g. face recognition), is increased for long periods of time during meditation.
• Alan Wallace. "Three Dimensions of Consciousness: A Buddhist Phenomenology of Mind". Full talk Audio 40:09 [mp3: 64Kbps, 18.4 Mb, 24Kbps, 5.7 Mb]. There have been several explorations in consciousness by Buddhism. This cannot be measured properly from a third person perspective, it has to be experienced. People are having thousands of hours of Buddhist training, to test which insights could be gained.
• Michel Bitbol. "Downward Causation: Concept and Experience". Full talk Audio 39:45 [mp3: 64Kbps, 18.2 Mb, 24Kbps, 5.7 Mb]. Downward causation is impossible as a concept but established as a fact. Philosophical arguments for solving this paradox, in favour of the concept of downward causation.

(L to R) Matthieu Ricard, Michel Bitbol, Alan Wallace, and John Searle

Neurophenomenology and Consciousness

• Thomas Metzinger. "Being No One - The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity". Full talk Audio 40:13 [mp3: 64Kbps, 18.4 Mb, 24Kbps, 5.7 Mb] Slides [pdf: 458 Kb]. Phenomenal model of intentionality development.
• Evan Thompson. "Life and Mind: From Autopoiesis to Neurphenomenology". Full talk Audio 42:01 [mp3: 64Kbps, 19.2 Mb, 24Kbps, 6.0 Mb]. Mind-body problem not only philosophical, but also of (first-person) experience. Experience is, in a certain sense, irreducible. There is the need to put human life back into science. Life = autopoiesis -> emergence of bodily self -> emergence of world = sense-making (meaning + valence) = cognition (perception/action) Intentionality emerges from coupling of body and environment.
• Wolf Singer. "The Observer in the Brain: A Dynamic State". Full talk Audio 48:09 [mp3: 64Kbps, 22.0 Mb, 24Kbps, 6.9 Mb] (Note: the talk begins in French for few minutes, but continues in English). With eyes wide shut, the brain knows how the world ought to be. Where is the observer in the brain? Conscious representations seem to be correlated to high synchronization of neuronal activity. Consciousness is in no place, it is a dynamical state.
• Shaun Gallagher. "Towards a Neurophenomenological Account of Autism". Full talk Audio 34:47 [mp3: 64Kbps, 15.9 Mb, 24Kbps, 5.0 Mb]. Comparison of theory of mind (TOM) and neurophenomenology. TOM cannot give account for autism, whereas neurophenomenology can. Autism seems to have basis at the neurological level, in sensorimotor processes. These are required for the development of intersubjectivities.

Practice and Social

• Andreas Roepstorff. "Webs of Significance: From Social Interaction to Brain Dynamics". Full talk Audio 41:29 [mp3: 64Kbps, 19.0 Mb, 24Kbps, 5.9 Mb]. First person experience cannot be reduced to a third person experience. Issues in the study of mind and consciousness.
• Jean-Pierre Dupuy. "The Social as Autonomous, Complex System". Full talk Audio 51:57 [mp3: 64Kbps, 23.8 Mb, 24Kbps, 7.4 Mb]. Organizational closure illustrated with Ian McEwan's "Atonement". Then applied to religious anthropology, political science, philosophy... part of the rules is to break the rules.

(L to R) Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Andreas Roepstorff, and Jean Petitot

Contributed by Nadia Gershenson (video) and Carlos Gershenson (audio and html)

Note: Audio files are in downloadable mp3 format for portable mp3 players or mp3 software players. Video files are in asf format and can be played e.g. with windows media player. If you have problems, suggestions, or comments with the file formats, please contact Carlos Gershenson.

For a theoretical background of the Complexity Digest Virtual Conference Network see:

• Time-scales, Meaning, and Availability of Information in a Global Brain, C. Gershenson, G. Mayer-Kress, A. Das, P. Das, and M. Marko, 2003-07-11, DOI: cs.AI/0305012, arXiv
• Conferences with Internet Web-Casting as Binding Events in a Global Brain: Example Data From Complexity Digest, A. Das, G. Mayer-Kress, C. Gershenson, P. Das, 2003-03-22, DOI: cs.NI/0303023, arXiv
• Time-Scales and the Historical Role of Conferences for the Emergence of Global Brains, G. Mayer-Kress
  • in: From Intelligent Networks to Global Brains, Evolutionary Social Organization through Knowledge Technology, Brussels, Belgium, 01/07/3-5
• The Global Brain As An Emergent Structure From The Worldwide Computing Network, And Its Implications For Modeling, Mayer-Kress, Gottfried; Barczys, Cathleen. The Information Society v11, n1 (Jan-Mar 1995): 1-27