Ricard V. Solé | Lightnews

Ricard Solé

@ricardsole.bsky.social

3.7K followers 710 following 330 posts

Scientist & skeptic. Dad. Book addict. Pathologically curious. Origins and Evolution of Complexity, Synthetic Transitions, Liquid Brains, and Earth Terraformation. ICREA + SFI professor. Author. Secular humanist.

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Physics 16%

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Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · Nov 6

Back to @sfiscience.bsky.social joining the night shift (with some extra coffee) at the Cormac McCarthy's Library. Working on criticality + cancer, statistical physics of ant colonies, the Physarum Lagrangian, universal genetic codes, synthetic agriculture & hybrid agencies.
@jordiplam.bsky.social

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 15h

Yes, but have in mind that, as you move from smaller scales (molecular, sub cellular, cellular) to larger ones (neural networks, brains) new properties emerge that cannot be reduced to those of the units.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 15h

Not necessarily. In this case, a physical/molecular process contains a key element of what we usually consider an essential element of neuronal pattern recognition. How relevant is this to generate true cognitive capacities? That's why I start with a question.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 21h

I use "cognition" in a generic way (with question mark). The important point is that a property that we always associate to neural memory (Hebb's rule) can be found in a molecular context. No perception (I believe) but a common, perhaps very common trait of pattern recognition in a general sense.

Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 1d

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

Bronze plaque saying "A Letter to the Future. Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it. August 2019. 415ppm CO2"

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 1d

well, that was an unfortunate combination of letters...

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 2d

Could cognition emerge from matter at scales far below neurons? This @nature.com paper explores whether molecular self-assembly can perform neural-like classification. The work suggests that even physical processes may carry out sophisticated information processing.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 13d

Aquesta evolució és inevitable (no sé si desitjable) atesa la força dels interessos comercials. Encara som lluny d’una intel·ligència realment “humana”, però la IA ha permès accelerar el coneixement (no pas substituir-lo). La qüestió és si les regulacions podran limitar-ne els problemes derivats.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 13d

Why do brains generalize so well while today’s neural networks often fail outside their training data? Check this paper in @cp-neuron.bsky.social argues how neuroscience can guide better architectures & representations. Check the table below.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reposted by Ricard V. Solé

Manlio De Domenico @manlius.bsky.social · 16d

Network Medicine is entering a new phase: one that demands we rethink how we study, model and ultimately treat complex diseases.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#ComplexSystems #NetworkScience #Medicine #MedSky 🧪🧬🌐

🧵 1/

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

Not me.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

Agreed. The rest make a lot of noise. he problem is that they are too often the ones that create public opinion about all that.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

Why? Don't you realize that you are trying to provide an explanation of a large-scale phenomenon using atomic-scale concepts? There is no need for that. We have lots to do and understand but the recurrent appeal to the QM is the wrong direction (why the hell we ned that?).

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

I think the common attraction to physics-like views ignores the great understanding that we already have about the ways n which dynamical integration of information takes place. It's computational neuroscience, emergent dynamics and an evolutionary perspective. Reductionistic views are nonsense.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

This is already happening among a broad range of disciplines, from network science, physics, imaging or biophysics to psychology, engineering and philosophy. Neuroscience IS the central part, and fairly well developped. Much to do ahead, but no magic QM is needed.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

Penrose authority in Theoretical Physics has been instrumental in failing to see how weak is the "microtubule" argument. No one has shown the causal relation, and the QM effects themselves are not relevant. The Emperor is naked. Check:

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

I think is a really good one, with lots of estimates that sugggest that quantum decoherence dominates the small-scale neural world (and thus no causal explanation for consciousness).

Reposted by Ricard V. Solé

Santa Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 17d

A new special issue of Philosophical Transactions B takes on one of science’s biggest questions: how life begins.

Rather than retracing Earth’s history, the authors look for the universal conditions that could make life possible anywhere, approaching the question from many fields and angles.

How life begins and where it might happen again

A recent special issue of Philosophical Transactions B takes on one of the biggest mysteries in science: how life first began. Instead of trying to replay Earth’s exact history, the issue’s authors lo...

www.santafe.edu

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

I know many physicists who have moved into neuroscience (seriously, not just superficially) and are doing groundbreaking work. And I think this is awesome. And some have made strong points concerning QM and its lack of relevance to consciousness:

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

That's exactly what I said: "physicists WHO invoke", not ALL physicists. Tired of listening that quantum events (probably not even happening) in neurons "explain" consciousness. This is a very dishonest and arrogant view.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 17d

So after listening to multiple talks by philosophers of mind who defend consciousness as the substrate of the entire universe, and physicists who invoke quantum mechanics as the source of consciousness, the conclusion is clear: they have no idea about neuroscience, nor any interest to know about it.

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 23d

Big Brother is already here.

Reposted by Ricard V. Solé

Manlio De Domenico @manlius.bsky.social · 24d

Phase transitions, bifurcations, thermal vents, exoplanets and their interactive maps, as well as pointers to a whole special issue just published in @royalsocietypublishing.org about origin of life.

With Spotify and Apple podcasts as usual.

What do you need more?

CC: @ricardsole.bsky.social

When matter came alive: the physics of life’s emergence

Exploring the origins of life through the mathematical theory of transitions

manlius.substack.com

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 25d

I am really intrigued by your comment...

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 25d

Thanks!

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 25d

... which connects with the problem of individuality. Multicellular organisms (animals in particular) achieve a unique potential to develop nervous systems and learn through their lives. The multicellularity of biofilms and bacterial aggregates has a very different nature and limits.

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