Paul Middlebrooks

Before going full cyborg and replacing all your neurons with artificial units, it's good to think about the consequences. Yogi Jaeger on AI vs life and mind. braininspired.co/podcast/241/

What if anything does computational complexity have to say about how brains work (or vice versa)? Cris made this discussion NP easy braininspired.co/podcast/240/

Neuroscience is all into naturalistic behavior now. What is a "naturalistic" behavior, anyway? Also how do our experiences and definitions change our science? E.g. what counts as "sleep" is different than 100 yrs ago... Nedah Nemati brings the philosophy braininspired.co/podcast/239/

It's rare when someone outside of neuroscience takes the time and effort (6 years!) to synthesize theoretical neuroscience ideas to explain how something works. James @JamesMHarrison_ knows clinical hypnosis works, and wanted to understand why. braininspired.co/podcast/238/

Ehud @ehudahissar didn't set out to offer a new kind of dualism, but, studying active perception, plus some thinking while driving, and here we are... Opposing hierarchical (strange) brain loops, interfacing analog & digital signals within & between us. braininspired.co/podcast/237/

Different neuron types make different ripples through different manifolds. That sounds cool, and Jorge Luis Borges probably already said it... Liset's @LMPrida work actually is cool, and I'll let her actually say it... braininspired.co/podcast/236/

In theory, the brain is a prediction computation representation information machine. In reality, the brain is an anticipatory collective of dynamic living cells. Do our metaphors matter for understanding brains? Romain @BretteRomain says yes... braininspired.co/podcast/235/

All we are is manifolds in the wind... That's not quite what Juan @JAlGallego says, but I do wish he sang it to me. We discuss all things neural manifolds, and a little motor control and BCI for spinal injury prosthetics braininspired.co/podcast/234/

Are the laws of thought woven from three golden threads? Tom @cocosci_lab and I discuss some of the history and themes in logic, probability, and neural nets, in his new book The Laws of Thought. braininspired.co/podcast/233/

Are the laws of thought woven from three golden threads? Tom @cocosci_lab and I discuss some of the history and themes in logic, probability, and neural nets, in his new book The Laws of Thought. braininspired.co/podcast/233/

Do neuroscientists know what "affordance" actually means? (it seems perhaps not) Luis Favela , Vicente Raja, and Matthieu de Wit on neuroscience trying to adopt ecological psychology for an "ecological neuroscience" braininspired.co/podcast/232/

Wild and free in Estonia, @jaaanaru connects the details with the big picture, like dendrites, thalamocortical loops, consciousness, and insight. AI has none of the above (including being wild and free) braininspired.co/podcast/231/

You're always thinking, unconsciously interrogating the world. When an affordance is available to report answers to your brain's questions - to yourself or others - you become conscious of those thoughts. Rough summary of @shadlen on consciousness... braininspired.co/podcast/230/

"Put your math where your metaphor is", Alex might say (if he takes my suggestion). He's already putting his money where his mouth is, working toward mathematical laws to capture the structure of consciousness (via integrated information theory for now) braininspired.co/podcast/228/

Five connectomics experts walked into a bar... the panel host ducked. Fun discussion at @AspirationNeuro about how to decode memories from static connectomes, with @michalj @sdorkenw @helenelab2020 @Andrew_C_Payne @randalkoene @KennethHayworth braininspired.co/podcast/227/

Are manifolds real? Are latent circuits real? Tatiana @EngelTatiana uses one, infers the other, and says yes to both. Also, how timescales are different and the same across the entire brain, and why that's so cool... braininspired.co/podcast/226/

Henk de Regt's "Understanding Scientific Understanding" (2017) elevated the philosophy of understanding, distinct from what it means to explain something. We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding. youtu.be/7pPWrs20OVM

If you're at SfN, stop by my teeny tiny nano talk Sunday at 1: "Neural population dynamics during naturalistic versus task-related behavior" w/ @YttriLab @Markolas11 @adenoeagle NANO017.01

I had SO much fun talking to Paul for almost 2 hours about my new book on Schrödinger & molecular biology. Easily one of the most enjoyable podcasts I've ever done. Check it out! P.S. CUP has made the PDF of my book free to download for two more weeks. Link is in my pinned post

What Is Life? A misleading title for Schrödinger's book. What is Life? Revisited. A spot-on title for Dan's @NicholsonHPBio book, which happens to be a gem. After reading and discussing it, I can only picture Schrödinger as a cartoon villain now. braininspired.co/podcast/224/