Multi Scale Cognitive Systems

Dr Michael Levin

"Just like when I talk to you, I don't worry about the electrical impulses in your brain"

Bioelectricity in Cells
Dr. Michael Levin’s research reveals how cells use bioelectric signals to communicate, acting as tiny agents that coordinate to form organs and organisms. Experiments with Xenobots—synthetic life forms from frog cells—show cells self-organizing into novel structures, displaying goal-directed “intelligence” without a fixed blueprint.

Scaling Up: Ant Colonies
Levin likens cellular systems to ant colonies, where simple rules (pheromones, local interactions) enable complex behaviours like foraging or nest-building. This collective intelligence scales dynamically, adapting to new tasks without a central leader, driven by decentralised feedback loops.

Humans and Group Intelligence
Humans mirror this scalability in societies. From open-source projects like Linux to crowd responses in crises, individuals coordinate via communication (language, tech, social media) to tackle large-scale tasks. Declining birth rates (e.g., 1.6 births per woman in the EU, 2023) might reflect a collective response to economic or environmental cues, though conscious motives complicate the analogy.

Connecting the Dots
Levin’s work suggests intelligence exists across scales—from cells to ants to humans. While cells use bioelectricity and ants use pheromones, human societies rely on culture and tech. Though less unified than ant colonies, our ability to build cities, innovate, or trend on X shows collective intelligence at work. The leap to societal trends like birth rates is speculative but hints at emergent responses to global challenges.