[FRIAM] bougie hippies or hippy bougies

[steve smith]

At a high level Skilling's work-thrust seems very compatible with 
Levin's /cognitive light cones/ (and near-sheldrake-morphogenic fields?) 
and Solms/Friston's use of /free energy/ which complements the 
pure-physics reflections of late on FriAM invoking a 
conscious-intentional metaphor for explaining/least action/.

I'm fascinated to see others here with ALife (and origin of life) 
history engaged or at least following this current wave of "all things 
collective".  I attended the SFI "Collective Intelligence" workshop last 
year and while I was impressed by parts of it, disappointed as well.   
My thoughts and opinions and reflections on it all are probably highly 
idiosyncratic to my personality and unique history, but the 
emergent/collective discussions emerging here sometimes really tweak me 
in a good way.  I'm sure my confused throwdowns don't do that justice.  
And chatting up GPT on the topic probably only makes it worse.

<tangent>

    regarding Bougie-Hippies - I saw the "construct a 'serendipity
    generator’ " line and was reminded of my first real
    techno-capitalist inspiration by a bougie-hippie couple of the
    era... early 1970's a middle-age (probably late 30s?) couple who
    worked at the radio station with me... she sold ads and he doubled
    as the station engineer and on-air personality but they also owned
    and operated a bakery which was open 5-11AM and sold bake-your-own
    pizzas as well.

    They drove a 60's VW van with a hand-painted psychadelic logo
    "Serendipity Engineering" with an "Peace-Sign overlayed Everything
    Pizza" rendered in technicolor.   They were variously the smartest,
    kindness and hardest working people I knew and while the local
    gringo-hispanic redneck culture wanted to dismiss them as
    bougie-hippies, they had to defer to their amazingly clever
    industriousness and civic spirit.  Everyone ate their donuts and
    pizza, drank their coffee and waved when they heard the
    characteristic 60hp aircooled boxer engine putting down the street.

    They were in the bakery at 5AM (before working at the radio station
    I helped a friend deliver the morning papers during summers.  The
    local and Phoenix dailies by bicycle.  Their bakery was our
    newspaper drop-point and they let us do our folding at one of their
    tables, returning 2-3 times over the hours for more papers.  They
    both spent their afternoons into evenings at the Radio Station or
    selling ads to local merchants.  I know they had some help at the
    bakery but they did all the heavy lifting themselves, best I could
    tell.  A real sustainable-power couple?

    I still don't know if their "hippie affect" (well groomed but
    bearded, blousy, bell-bottomy) was a put-on or sincere, but their
    "bourgoise-mercantilist" nature seemed authentic.  I suspect they
    are dead (or living the good bougie-hippy life in their 90s), they
    had no children so who knows what their
    hippy-industrial-capitalistic empire became.  I last saw them as I
    escaped small-town Arizona (1975) for small-city Arizona (Flagstaff)
    and hardly looked back (until just now).  I think young Stephen
    Guerin hadn't arrived in Tempe quite yet?   I like to think he and
    Allison cut a similar profile in China in the 90s?

</tangent>


On 3/14/25 9:12 AM, glen wrote:
> https://bioengineer.org/uncg-professor-explores-symbiotic-group-behavior-mirroring-single-organisms-securing-600000-from-templeton-foundation/ 
>
>
>> PaBST 2025
>>
>> Abstracts Due March 31
>> JUNE 22-27 2025
>>
>> Philosophy and Biology
>> Shop Talks
>>
>> KEYNOTE TALK BY PETER GODFREY-SMITH
>>
>> This event is an one of yearly ongoing summer workshops supported by 
>> the John Templeton Foundation through the grant “The Emergence and 
>> Evolution of Goal-Directed Behavior in Collective Entities” (#63454). 
>> Talks that are related to topics of the grant will receive priority, 
>> but all talks under the broader category of “life sciences” will be 
>> considered. Prioritized topics include: holobionts, host-microbiome 
>> interactions, symbiosis, biological individuality, system function 
>> and health, and formal evolutionary or eco- evolutionary modeling.
>>
>> This summer workshop is aimed at philosophers, scientists, 
>> mathematicians, and scholars working on or within the life sciences, 
>> with the goal of fostering interdisciplinary interaction and 
>> encouraging collaboration. The overall goal of the workshop is to 
>> construct a “serendipity generator’, an event structured to provide 
>> ample opportunity and room for innovative ideas to naturally emerge. 
>> Successful and surprising cross-disciplinary collaborations are 
>> difficult to force; instead they are often borne out of chance 
>> conversations and interactions during conferences, research cruises, 
>> and workshops.
>>
>> PaBST will be organized as a 4-day retreat with the first (22nd) and 
>> last (27th) days reserved for arriving and leaving respectively. 
>> Participants will be staying at acommon location and preparing their 
>> meals together. Each working day will consist of ~4 hours of talks 
>> given by participants, broken up by roundtable discussion events and 
>> breakout sessions held at a relaxed pace. Mornings and evenings will 
>> be left open in order to let the participants engage with each other 
>> in smaller groups during organized activities.
>>
>> Submit a ~500 word abstract for a 30min talk by March 31. Works in 
>> progress not yet submitted for publication are especially encouraged.
>>
>> Submit abstracts via email to pabstworkshop at gmail.com
>>
>> The workshop will take place at Luna’s Trail Farm and Event Center in 
>> the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Lodging 
>> is limited and accommodations may have to be shared depending on 
>> total attendance. On-site camping is also available.
>>
>> Decisions should be made by April 21. Financial support will be 
>> available.  Students and those without funding alternatives will be 
>> prioritized.
>>
>>
>> Questions? email djskilli at uncg.edu
>>
>
>
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