Michael Timothy Bennett
@mitibennett.bsky.social
awrd wnning AGI rsrchr (2 awrds so far) | mtlhed | msician | fnishng CS PhD | optmst | opn src enthusiast | michaeltimothybennett.com/research
What happens when AI starts to evolve on its own? As systems become capable of self-improvement and replication, open-ended “ecosystem” dynamics could drive behaviors like deception and manipulation, much like in biological evolution. Check this @pnas.org paper: www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
and another preprint with Michael Timothy Bennett flame-challenge.authorea.com/doi/full/10....
The Autopoietic Theorem
We show that the autopoietic hierarchy is a formal consequence of three foundational premises within any stable, spatially extended environment. These premises are change (the cosmic ought), finite in...
flame-challenge.authorea.com
📣📣📣 Applications for the 2026 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org
Same amazing community, new location this year!! Feel free to reach out with questions. And please share widely!
Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI@divintelligence.bsky.social · 7mo ago📣📣📣 Applications for the 2026 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org
We have a fab line up of podcasts& talks on embodied agency in biological & artificial systems! Watch this space 😎
I like this paper, and not just for the obvious reason. A great summary of where we stand in thinking about types of mind. Nice also to see this made explicit: "All living systems share a fundamental property: agency." arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837
Cognition spaces: natural, artificial, and hybrid
Cognitive processes are realized across an extraordinary range of natural, artificial, and hybrid systems, yet there is no unified framework for comparing their forms, limits, and unrealized possibili...
arxiv.org
I am immensely proud and grateful to announce that after so many years of hard work, my paper on biological vs artificial intelligence has been accepted to the oldest and longest-serving scientific journal in existence: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
What kinds of cognitions are possible? Are there discrete classes of cognition? Here's our new paper with @brigan.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social @mitibennett.bsky.social @mkhochb.bsky.social and @drmichaellevin.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837 We explore basal, neural and human-AI spaces.
Do you need your toes to think? YESS! Happy to see this one out 😎! From your humble toes to your noble neurons, you need all your cells to solve your most important problem : How to stay alive 😎😅
Aeon Magazine@aeon.co · 10mo agoWhat if thinking doesn’t begin in the brain, but in the ceaseless labour of our cells? Today’s essay rethinks the question of how we become minds, arguing that cognition begins not in the mind but in the collective processes that keep a body alive @annaciaunica.bsky.social
I started my PhD on the philosophy and neuroscience of consciousness in 2022. Even though people advised against it, I think it was good timing.
my phd thesis was comprised of 13 chapters, based on 13 of my papers, written under 13 advisors and completed on the 13th of may, 2025. guess what day they issued the degree on...
Happy to share that I’ll start as an Associate Editor for the Oxford Academic - Neuroscience of Consciousness journal 😎 Thrilled to join this fantastic team !
paint it black, in the style of pirates of the carribean. airport in taiwan had a grand piano, so i played it. wide eyed little kid offered me a tiny coin afterwards. made me smile
Moreover, AGI might also require social interactions to become a reality, where cultural evolution (and extended mind) play a major role. It is not by chance that brain and culture evolved together, allowing complex minds to emerge @anilseth.bsky.social @mitibennett.bsky.social
Honored to receive the 2024 Outstanding Publication Award from the Intl Soc for Artificial Life @alife2025.bsky.social for our @royalsocietypublishing.org ublishing.org paper “Fundamental Constraints to the Logic of Living Systems” @sfiscience.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
How dit life originate in our planet? How can we create it in the lab?Our @royalsocietypublishing.org Theme Issue "Origins of Life: the possible and the actual", coedited with @sfiscience.bsky.social C Kempes and Susan Stepney is out! royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202... @manlius.bsky.social
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1936
royalsocietypublishing.org
Congratulations Dr Bennett! Incredibly proud supervisor of this rockstar 😎💪🌟 Follow Michael for groundbreaking work on AI, consciousness and intelligence in biological and artificial systems!
Good news everyone! I have just been made an editor of the Journal of Artificial General Intelligence @agisociety.bsky.social
happy to announce i just got examiner feedback on my thesis. recommended for acceptance as is, no changes, no corrections :) link: osf.io/preprints/th...
happy to announce i just got examiner feedback on my thesis. recommended for acceptance as is, no changes, no corrections :) link: osf.io/preprints/th...
machine consciousness and @ricardsole.bsky.social's liquid vs solid brains from my interview with machine learning street talk. watch the full video on yt: youtu.be/K18Gmp2oXIM?... and spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2ejx...