“Platonic Space” refers to a structured, non-physical space of patterns, such as the properties of mathematical objects, and perhaps other, higher-agency patterns that we detect as forms of anatomy, physiology, and behavior in the biosphere. Thus, the contents of this space may inform (in-form) events in our physical world (constraining physics, and enabling biology). The concept of a space of specific information patterns that interacts with our world, but exists independently of it, is ancient. Recent work in a number of disciplines have made exploration of this topic timely, and I have decided to hold the first (to my knowledge) interdisciplinary symposium on this topic. The intent is not to hew close to the original conceptions of Plato and Pythagoras, but to use some of the deep ideas associated with these classical thinkers as a springboard for novel approaches to casual patterns across disciplines. We also hope to go beyond “emergence” as an empirically fruitful framework for understanding where novel patterns come from, and how the latent space of possibilities can be explored.
Hananel Hazan and I are organizing it as an asynchronous event, with presentations occurring via telepresence, recorded or in real-time, throughout the Fall of 2025. All talks will be placed online here and below, as they are given (roughly one per week starting in September 2025), and be eventually followed by a series of real-time discussions online (this post will be updated as each new piece of content appears). You’re welcome to post questions in the Comments section below – these will be offered to the participants to address in the discussion session at the end of the symposium.
Represented will be philosophy, biology, physics, computer science, mathematics, and other fields that are not so easy to characterize. I hope that it will result in a lowering of interdisciplinary barriers, a softening of metaphysical priors that hold back some kinds of research programs, and specific advances for research programs in several applied fields. Here is the current roster (subject to change, especially expansion):
| Presenter | Affiliation | URL | Title |
| Michel Levin | Tufts University | https://www.drmichaellevin.org/ | Platonic Space and Biology: understanding evolved, engineered, and hybrid embodied minds |
| Joel Dietz | MIT Connection Science | https://connection.mit.edu/people/joel-dietz/ | Radical Platonism and Radical Empiricism: Network Analysis of Testable Platonic Hypotheses in Contemporary Science |
| Olaf Witkowski | Cross Labs | https://olafwitkowski.com/ | tba |
| Mariana Valdetaro | independent | https://mvtta.github.io/posts/resume/resume.html | Is Mathematics Animated? |
| Lucy Spouncer | University of Edinburgh | https://lucyspouncer.uk/ | Abstraction is Organic |
| Lauren Ross | University of California, Irvine | https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~rossl/ | Explanation in Biology: principles and pragmatics |
| Chris Fields | Allen Discovery Center, Tufts | https://allencenter.tufts.edu/christopher-a-chris-fields-ph-d/ | From Experience to Math |
| Akarsh Kumar | MIT CSAIL | https://akarshkumar.com/ | Questioning Representational Optimism in Deep Learning: The Fractured Entangled Representation Hypothesis |
| Juan P. Aguilera | Institute of Discrete Mathematics and Geometry, TU Wien | https://juan.ag/ | The Platonic Conception of Mathematics and its Consequences for Mathematical Practice |
| Blaise Agüera y Arcas | Google Research | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Ag%C3%BCera_y_Arcas | Functions As Forms: From Computation to Agency |
| Matt Segall | Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program California Institute of Integral Studies | https://footnotes2plato.com/about-me/ | Whitehead on the Ingression of Novel Form: Toward a New Formal Causality in the Life Sciences |
| Tom Froese | Embodied Cognitive Science Unit (ECSU) at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) | https://www.oist.jp/research/research-units/ecsu/tom-froese | The Geometry of the Mind-Body Interface: Reinterpreting Platonic Forms as Informational Operators |
| Jack Morris & Rishi Jha | Cornell University | https://rush-nlp.com/ | Universal Embeddings |
| Sam A. Senchal | Independent Researcher | https://github.com/SASenchal/Observer-Theory-Extension | Observer Theory |
| David Resnik | NIH | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Resnik | Mathematics, morphogenesis, and metaphysics: thinking about Platonic space in biology |
| Iain McGilchrist | All Souls College, Oxford | https://channelmcgilchrist.com/home/ | Spherical Causation |
| Brian Cheung | MIT | https://briancheung.github.io/ | The Emergence of Convergence in Different Levels of Biology and AI |
| Timothy Jackson | University of Melbourne | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vOnot8oAAAAJ&hl=en | The ontogenetic alternative: “Platonism”, khôric mater(ial)ism, and open-ended evolution |
| Giulio Ruffini | Brain Modeling Department, Neuroelectrics Barcelona | https://giulioruffini.github.io/#gsc.tab=0 | The Algorithmic Weltanschauung: An Algorithmic, Platonic Perspective |
| Elliot Murphy | Department of Neurosurgery McGovern Medical School University of Texas Health Science Center | https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=4AYNRj0AAAAJ&hl=en | Platonic Forms in the Study of Language and Mind |
| Denis Noble | Oxford University | https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/team/denis-noble | Mathematics justifies the Metaphysics in Biology |
| Darren Iammarino | University of San Diego | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YNrxRaYAAAAJ&hl=en | Exploring an Ever-Growing Platonic Space and the Entities that Enrich it |
| Karl Friston | University College, London | https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~karl/ | On the (Platonic) Nature of Things |
| Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic | Chalmers University of Technology | https://www.gordana.se/ | Platonic Space as Cognitive Construct |
| Douglas Brash | Yale School of Medicine | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QHCv7ZIAAAAJ&hl=en | Abstract Forms & Tangible Biology – palanquins, princes, and a LEGO hypothesis |
| Jacob Foster | Indiana University Bloomington | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dpuY5hkAAAAJ&hl=en | The Evolution of Ideal Objects: Toward Cultural Morphodynamics |
Topics that we hope to address include:
- the nature of explanation in various fields, especially in math, and what happens to “explaining” a phenomenon when it crosses multiple fields
- causation in various fields, especially in math
- the philosophy of causation by non-physical causes
- examples of how the properties of mathematical objects determine outcomes in physics and biology
- where do patterns of form and behavior come from in biology, physics, etc.
- can we do better than “emergence” for prediction and control of novel phenomena?
- how to use these ideas to move empirical work forward in computer science, biology, etc. – toward a research program
An introduction can be seen here:
Talks:
1) Michael Levin – “Patterns of Form and Behavior Beyond Emergence: how Platonic Space in-forms evolved, engineered, and hybrid embodied minds”
The first half introduces the biological examples and data that motivate the applicability of the Platonic Space framework in a field where molecular genetics is thought to be sufficient. Skip to ~47th minute to see the Platonic Space ideas themselves.
Also, here’s a simplified 1-page argument highlighting my specific claims, and some discussion (~17 minutes total) of the implications and research program:
2) Joel Dietz – “Radical Platonism and Radical Empiricism: Network Analysis of Testable Platonic Hypotheses in Contemporary Science”
3) Alexey Tolchinsky – “Patterns and Explanatory Gaps in Psychotherapy (does God place dice?)”
4) Benjamin Lyons – “The Historical Construction of Normativity in Mathematics”
5) Olaf Witkowski – “Substrate-dependent mathematics hypothesis”
6) Mariana Emauz Valdetaro – “Is Mathematics Animated?”
Downloadable material for Mariana’s talk:
7) Lucy Spouncer – “Abstraction is Organic: translating mathematical patterns through the literary substrate”
8) Lauren N. Ross – “Explanation in Biology: principles and pragmatics”
9) Chris Fields – “From Experience to Math”
10) Akarsh Kumar – “Towards a Platonic Intelligence with Unified Factored Representations”
11) J. P. Aguilera – “The Platonic Conception of Mathematics”
12) Blaise Agüera y Arcas – “Computational Symbiogenesis”
13) Matt Segall – “Whitehead on the Ingression of Novel Form: Toward a New Formal Causality in the Life Sciences”
14) Karl Friston – “On the (Platonic) Nature of Things”
15) Tom Froese – “The Geometry of the Mind-Body Interface: Reinterpreting Platonic Forms as Informational Operators”
16) Iain McGilchrist – “Spherical Causation” (audio only)
17) Denis Noble – “Maths Justifies Metaphysics in Biology”
18) Rishi Jha and Jack Morris – “All AI Models Might be the Same: harnessing the universal geometry of embeddings”
19) Sam A. Senchal – “Observer Theory” (see also this paper)
20) Darren Iammarino – “Exploring an Ever-Growing Platonic Space and the Entities that Enrich it”
21) Timothy Jackson – “The ontogenetic alternative: “Platonism”, khôric mater(ial)ism, and open-ended evolution”
22) Giulio Ruffini – “The Algorithmic Weltanschauung: An Algorithmic, Platonic Perspective”
23) Elliot Murphy – “Platonic Forms in the Study of Language and Mind”
24) David Resnik – “Mathematics, morphogenesis, and metaphysics: thinking about Platonic space in biology”
25) Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic – “Platonic Space as Cognitive Construct”
26) Brian Cheung – “The Emergence of Convergence in Different Levels of Biology and AI”
27) Douglas Brash – “Abstract Forms & Tangible Biology – palanquins, princes, and a LEGO hypothesis”
“I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. The smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language.” – Werner Heisenberg
“Biology is the study of the larger organisms, whereas physics is the study of the smaller organisms.” – Alfred North Whitehead
“Mathematics seems to endow one with something like a new sense.” – Charles Darwin
Featured image courtesy of Jeremy Guay of Peregrine Creative.
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