framework
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framework:basal-cognitionBasal Cognition
An interdisciplinary research framework that reconceptualizes intelligence as observer-relative problem-solving competencies existing on a continuum from simple to highly complex, extending cognition beyond neural systems to pre-neural and non-neural substrates including microbial control loops, plants, tissues, and cellular collectives. It grounds the study of evolutionary and developmental origins of cognitive and behavioral capacities by linking information processing at the chemical and cellular level to classical cognition, and provides philosophical foundations for understanding agency and goal-directedness in systems without nervous systems.
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Papers (10)
paper
Thinkers (6)
thinker
- Michael Levinassociated_withcites
- Paul Lyonassociated_withstudiesReferenced for work on minimal cognition and proto-cognition in biological systems.
- Nicolas RouleaucitesCo-author; neuroscientist studying embodied and bioengineered tissues to model neural diseases and minimal cognitive systems.
- Giovanni Pezzulostudies
- Fred Keijzerassociated_with
- Francis BaluskastudiesResearcher cited for work on basal cognition in plants and single cells.
Concepts (18)
concept
- Bioelectricityassociated_withextendsProposed 'cognitive glue' common to both neural and developmental collective intelligence; implemented by ion channels and electrical synapses.
- Morphogenesisassociated_withimplementsProcess by which cellular collectives generate large-scale structure and form; presented as a collective intelligence problem.
- Minimal Cognitionassociated_withField studying evolutionary origins of cognitive capacities in bacteria, slime moulds, plants, tissues; demonstrates sentience need not require high-order reflection.
- Collective Intelligenceassociated_withRecognition that selves are composite systems of competent parts; all intelligences are higher-level selves made of cells or components.
- Cognitive Light ConeextendsConcept defining self by the spatiotemporal scale and nature of goals a system can pursue; limits of concern demarcate identity.
- Consciousnessassociated_withCore concept: capacity to experience as a subject; argued to be substrate-independent and achievable across diverse biological systems.
- Gap JunctionsimplementsCellular connections that enable bioelectric communication; form bioelectric networks underlying morphogenetic control and can be manipulated experimentally via molecular reagents.
- Goal-Directednessassociated_withProposed universal invariant of cognition and intelligence—capacity for goal-directed activity in a problem space, independent of substrate or embodiment.
- Teleonomyassociated_withGoal-directed behavior framework; referenced in plant cognition context.
- Intelligenceassociated_withObserver-relative competency to identify and solve problems; defined as capacity, not manifest action, across all substrates.
- Stress-Care-Intelligence (SCI) LoopimplementsCore framework: stress (perceived mismatch between current and optimal states) → care (engaged concern) → intelligence (capacity to identify and solve problems) → new stresses, in recursive loops. Applies to biological, technological, and hybrid systems.
- Plant Sentienceassociated_withPossibility that plants experience subjective felt states; main topic of the commentary.
- Evolutionary Transitions In Individualityassociated_with
- Cellular Competencyassociated_withThe problem-solving capacity of cells to rearrange and achieve correct morphology; measured by competency value (max allowed swaps).
- Credit Assignment Problemassociated_withFundamental problem in all cognition: how distributed components learn which actions to reinforce; central to understanding collective intelligence.
- Contested domain of basal cognition; highlights insufficient criteria for assessing sentience across diverse substrates.
- Single-celled organism demonstrating learning, decision-making, and problem-solving in absence of neurons; exemplifies basal cognition without a brain.
- problem-solving competencyimplementsThe ability to navigate a problem space (metabolic, transcriptional, anatomical) to achieve a goal, central to MCA.
Communities (2)
community
- Basal Cognition Frameworkmembers_of
- Multiscale Memory Systemsmembers_of
Claims (5)
claim
- Minds not exclusively neural; basal cognition identifies intelligences in single cells, plants, tissues, swarms; brains pre-date neurons evolutionarily.
- Authors propose deep principle unifying neuroscience and developmental biology through goal-directed behavior as common thread.
- Paper's key integration claim: Buddhism's emphasis on care and non-essentialism provides the conceptual lens needed for post-anthropocentric intelligence science.
- Calls for consilience across disciplines.
Frameworks (4)
framework
- Tame Technological Approach To Mind Everywhereassociated_withextendsA conceptual framework for understanding cognition and intelligence across diverse substrates—including evolved biological systems, artificial systems, and bioengineered systems—using empirically-grounded, gradualist approaches. TTAME enables comparative analysis of mind-like phenomena regardless of the physical or biological substrate in which it emerges, facilitating cross-disciplinary study of unconventional intelligences.
- Scale-Free CognitionextendssupportsCentral hypothesis proposing that cognitive capacities scale across biological organization levels from cells to organisms via computational boundaries.
- Bioelectric NetworksimplementsAncient mechanism using ion channels, gap junctions, and neurotransmitters as 'cognitive glue' enabling collective intelligence across morphogenesis and behavior.
Artifacts (2)
artifact
- Source paper introducing the TAME framework and its applications.
- Hybrotimplements
Findings (2)
finding
- Demonstrates that intelligence and goal-directedness operate in problem spaces beyond 3D behavioral space; supports basal cognition framework.
- Empirical support for basal cognition hypothesis: cognitive capacities not limited to neural systems; cognition scales from unicellular organisms.
Questions (1)
question
- Central research question of basal cognition; addresses the scaling problem—how cognition emerges across organizational levels from cells to organisms.
Venues (1)
venue
- Concept paper published in Entropy journal in 2022; integrates Buddhist philosophy with basal cognition and AI research.
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- Defines basal cognition, central to linking organismic and evolutionary individuality
- Mental actions including sentience; can be achieved by different biological and non-biological substrates.
- Cognition in nervous systems, used as a modelling target
- Alexander's thesis that wholeness and the fifteen properties are objectively real, not artifacts of cognition, and are fundamental to physics and biology.
- Core claim of biogenic approach: cognition is not unique to brains or nervous systems but emerges from living organization itself.
- Framework treating cognition as inseparable from bodily organization and environmental interaction; aligned with biogenic approach.
- Cognition carried out by non-neural tissues, such as morphological problem-solving by cell collectives.