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Alexey Tolchinsky

@tolchinsky.bsky.social

4.3K followers 8.3K following 1.3K posts

Clinical psychologist and researcher investigating anxiety disorders, Acute PTSD, dissociations, OCD, Affective Neuroscience, neuropsychoanalysis, application of nonlinear dynamical systems to psychology https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com

montgomerycountypsychologist.com

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · Sep 4

Our paper is published. Co-authored with @drmichaellevin.bsky.social , Chris Fields, @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social ta.bsky.social, Daniel Friedman, Rachael Murphy, David Pincus

www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

this work presents a computational model of dissociations

Bluesky

ta.bsky.social

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 4h

This is a nice connection. Coming up with new ideas is divergent thinking, not convergent thinking. (e.g. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social's and @chrisfields38.bsky.social work)

There is no innovation without divergence. Orthodoxy is the antithesis of innovation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh4c...

Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking

YouTube video by Professional & Executive Development - Harvard DCE

www.youtube.com

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 4h

What do you think about her debate style? You have been in many. My impression is that she monopolizes the space, interrupts, talks over, doesn't listen much, seems to wish to control the conversation. If one is confident in one's opinions, why do they need so much control?

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 18h

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yEP...

around 1h 15-18 minutes. Hard to watch, her debate style is off-putting

www.youtube.com

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 18h

If you watch a 2-part debate between Solms and Barrett, you'll hear when he asked her pointedly if human babies feel pain - she avoided an answer. In her world everything is constructed individually and there is no more or less universal feeling of "pain" in humans

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 1d

thank you for listening

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 1d

as well as possible application of this work (the polygenic scores) to other organisms, including xenobots and anthrobots developed by Michael Levin, Joshua Bongard and Douglas Blackiston and their respective labs.

#stress
#resilience
#epigenetic
#biomarker
#longevity
#xenobots

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 1d

I am grateful that Patricia Silveira (Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health and McGill University) and Michael Levin found time to meet and talk about the epigenetic biomarkers of stress and susceptibility in primates,

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 1d

Can xenobots become more resilient?
How much stress is optimal for development, too much and too little?

Here is a conversation between @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and Patricia Silveira from the Ludmer Centre/McGill.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsW5...

Discussion with Alexey Tolchinsky and Patricia Silveira 1

YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Chris Fields @chrisfields38.bsky.social · 3d

New preprint showing that the classicality of the observed world can only be a pragmatic assumption.

arxiv.org/abs/2510.08239

Operational protocols cannot certify classicality

The existence and practical utility of operational protocols that certify entanglement raises the question of whether operational protocols exist that certify the absence of entanglement, i.e. that ce...

arxiv.org

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 3d

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Reuters @reuters.com · 3d

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

150 1.9K 5.2K

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 3d

Robot-scientists? Say hello, a work by @drmichaellevin.bsky.social Joshua Bongard and colleagues

thoughtforms.life/meet-a-new-s...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot-p...

Google's AI co-scientist, you got embodied friends now.

Forms of life, forms of mind | Dr. Michael Levin | Meet a new synthetic colleague: robot science as a translation tool between diverse intelligences

A video, and downloadable slides, of a presentation I gave on robot science and Xenobots at the 2025 Artificial Life meeting.

thoughtforms.life

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 3d

where is that subtrack post or peer-reviewed paper on butt-to-brain axis?

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 3d

imagine what happens with individuals who are hypomanic and otherwise delusional (tending to grandiosity) - they get worse in that echo chamber.

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 7d

divergent thinking in science, not just developmentally
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social is a prime example of doing this as a part of his work

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QWm...

We teach children out of doing that in standardized educational systems. We teach compliance.

#divergent
#thinking

Unlock Creativity - How Divergent Thinking Drives Innovation

YouTube video by Sir Ken Robinson

www.youtube.com

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 8d

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZb1...

Pete Hegseth Cold Open - SNL

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 10d

But wait, hasn’t physics shown the world really IS deterministic? Well, no, not at all – not at quantum levels and not at classical levels either. arxiv.org/abs/2503.19672

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Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Chris Fields @chrisfields38.bsky.social · 9d

New preprint constructing geometric representations of computations: arxiv.org/abs/2509.19772

Amplituhedra for Generic Quantum Processes from Computation-Scattering Correspondence

We study the relationship between computation and scattering both operationally (hence phenomenologically) and formally. We show how topological quantum neural networks (TQNNs) enable universal quantu...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 8d

It would be great if some of the people writing commentaries to the target paper joined the discussion💯

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 8d

Measles in the US

1544 confirmed cases. Look at the chart.

www.cdc.gov/measles/data...

Measles Cases and Outbreaks

Find the latest numbers of confirmed U.S. measles cases. CDC updates this page weekly.

www.cdc.gov

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 11d

An anti-establishment "hero" story

www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...

“Don’t Talk About Physics Fight Club” Eric Weinstein vs Sean Carroll Science SHOWDOWN | Alexey Tolchinsky, Psy.D.

An anti-establishment "hero." You see this time and again. The Greek myth relevant here is the one of Prometheus, a hero, who stands up against the mighty Gods while bringing sacred knowledge to the...

www.linkedin.com

Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 11d

There's more to it. There's an achetypal Greek Myth of anti-establishment, which gets repeated

www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...

“Don’t Talk About Physics Fight Club” Eric Weinstein vs Sean Carroll Science SHOWDOWN | Alexey Tolchinsky, Psy.D.

www.linkedin.com

Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Mike Levin @drmichaellevin.bsky.social · 14d

New paper: Santosh Manicka
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

"Field-mediated bioelectric basis of morphogenetic prepatterning"

#morphogenesis #bioelectricity #fields

🧪

Field-mediated bioelectric basis of morphogenetic prepatterning

The endogenous electric field of a simplified bioelectric network model of an embryo facilitates the autonomous formation of voltage patterns. Transient exogenous electric fields can leverage this pro...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 13d

Great piece by @jonathanjarry.bsky.social on the descent of Sabine Hossenfelder, from science communicator to contrarian outrage-monger www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

Sabine Hossenfelder Asks If Science Is Dying. It’s Not.

Physics is dying. It’s mathematical fiction. Science is failing. Most of academic research that your taxes pay for is almost certainly bullshit. I don’t trust scientists. Would you believe me if I tol...

www.mcgill.ca

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Alexey Tolchinsky @tolchinsky.bsky.social · 12d

A short essay

alexeytolchinsky.substack.com/p/the-crumbs...

It is about the patterns that make up me and you, out cognitive light cones and what can be done to extend them.

#longevity
#FEP
#scaledependence
#meaning

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