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question:how-do-large-numbers-of-competent-subunits-work-together-to-become-intelligences-that-expand-the-scale-of-their-possible-goalsHow do large numbers of competent subunits work together to become intelligences that expand the scale of their possible goals?
Central research question of basal cognition; addresses the scaling problem—how cognition emerges across organizational levels from cells to organisms.
Source paper
extracted_from(2023) · Levin, Michael
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Frameworks (1)
framework
- Basal CognitiongatesAn 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.
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.
- Identifies recruitment as a cross-scale hallmark of collective intelligence.
- Implication of PRH for 'scale is all you need' argument
- Question linking reward scaling to collective problem-solving improvement.
- Foundational claim dissolving distinction between individual and collective intelligence by recognizing brains as archetypal intelligent collectives.
- Central thesis: expanding an agent's sensors and goals outward to include others' states creates bidirectional feedback loop that scales intelligence and increases compassion.
- Foundational claim positioning brains as archetypal intelligent collectives.
Cross-corpus bridges (5)
same_concept_as · Nomic cosineExternal markdown files that talk about the same concept as this entity.
- aboutblank_kbHow do large numbers of competent subunits (cells) work together to become intelligences that expand the scale of their possible goals?questions/how-do-large-numbers-of-competent-subunits-cells.md0.877
- aboutblank_kbHow do large numbers of competent cellular subunits work together to generate coherent cognitive beings with goals, preferences, and memories that belong to the whole?questions/how-do-large-numbers-of-competent-cellular-subunits.md0.817
- aboutblank_kbHow do the activities of competent, lower-level agents give rise to a multiscale Self that is truly more than the sum of its parts?questions/how-do-the-activities-of-competent-lowerlevel-agents.md0.812
- aboutblank_kbHow do multiple homeostatic and goal-directed agents at different scales integrate into coherent larger wholes?questions/how-do-multiple-homeostatic-and-goaldirected-agents-at.md0.808
- aboutblank_kbHow do goals of composite entities arise in distributed, multi-scale systems?questions/how-do-goals-of-composite-entities-arise-in.md0.799