Asynchronous symposium on the Platonic Space
patterns of life and mind beyond emergence of complexity
The concept of a structured space of patterns, which informs (in-forms) events in our physical world (constraining physics, and enabling biology), but exists independently of it, is ancient. Recent work in a number of disciplines have made exploration of this topic timely, and I have decided to hold the first (to my knowledge) interdisciplinary symposium on this topic. The intent is not to hew close to the original conceptions of Plato and Pythagoras, but to use some of the deep ideas associated with these classical thinkers as a springboard for novel approaches to casual patterns across disciplines. We also hope to go beyond “emergence” as an empirically fruitful framework for understanding where novel patterns come from, and how that space of possibilities can be explored.
Hananel Hazan and I are organizing it as an asynchronous event, with presentations occurring via telepresence, recorded or in real-time, throughout the Fall of 2025. All talks will be placed online as they are given (roughly one per week starting in September 2025), and be eventually followed by a series of real-time discussions online (this post will be updated as each new piece of content appears).
Represented will be philosophy, biology, physics, computer science, mathematics, and other fields that are not so easy to characterize. I hope that it will result in a lowering of interdisciplinary barriers, a softening of metaphysical priors that hold back some kinds of research programs, and specific advances for research programs in several applied fields.
See the content at:
Good luck guys, this sounds great and is much welcomed at this time as science is forced to consider these philosophical topics!
Dr. Levin,
My name is Christopher Padgett Hunnicutt. I’m a mixed-media artist with a long background in studying perceptual emergence, recursive pattern formation, and the structural conditions that allow complex systems to organize themselves. Over time, this work developed into what I call the Operator Theorem—a simple, minimal framework that describes the basic operators required for any system to form distinctions, track information, generate orientations, and stabilize coherent patterns or “worlds.”
I wrote the attached article to explore how this structural framework might relate to your research on bioelectric patterning, regeneration, and distributed intelligence in living tissues. My intention isn’t to critique or reinterpret your work, but simply to offer a possible structural perspective that might complement the ideas you’ve been developing.
Thank you for taking a look—I appreciate your time and everything your work has opened up.
—Christopher
https://open.substack.com/pub/artofchristopherpadgetthunnicutt/p/the-operator-theorem-and-michael?r=abwe2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false