Recent Additions: New and Updated Entries in the Past 60 Days
Displaying entries 1 through 15 of 102 found.

Planatural Genesis: A Phenomenal, PhiloSophia, Propaedutic, TwinKinder, PersonVerse Endeavor

Abitbol, M., et al. The Simons Observatory: Science Goals and Forecasts for the Enhanced Large Aperture Telescope. arXiv:2503.00636. We cite this entry with over 300 cosigners who make up the Simons Observatory Collaboration (see quote and website) as a good example of worldwise Earthuman endeavors which are lately able to fully explore and deeply quantify our vast temporal and spatial universe. See also The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Maps at arXiv:2503.14451. As the ACT and JWST instruments send in their first year images and findings, they achieve a dramatic new dimension and detail of the earliest inflationary times and farthest galactic reaches. Via a philoSophia vista, our own global genius earns maybe an especial distinction by accomplishing a whole scale observational retrospective and recognition that a participatory ecosmos seems to require. Whom are we mindul Earthicans to gain all this awesome knowledge?

We describe scientific goals for the wide-field, millimeter-wave survey that will be achieved by the Simons Observatory (SO). Some of the science goals are to determine the physical conditions in the early universe; measure the integrated distribution of mass, electron pressure, and momentum; measure the distribution of galaxy groups and clusters; produce a sample of 30,000 galaxy clusters, and 100,000 extragalactic millimeter sources; and provide a new window into the transient universe on time scales of minutes to years. (Excerpts)

The Simons Observatory (SO) has completed the installation of its Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) near the summit of Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The telescope joins the observatory’s Small Aperture Telescopes at the site. Together, they will collect the most precise measurements yet of the universe’s oldest light just after the universe’s birth. The high-fidelity SO data will be a unique window allowing scientists to learn about the primordial universe, neutrino physics, cosmological constant and dark energy, as well as galaxy evolution.

Princeton University Press Release New research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration has produced the clearest images yet of the universe's infancy. Measuring light that traveled for more than 13 billion years to reach a telescope high in the Chilean Andes, the new images reveal the universe when it was about 380,000 years old, the equivalent of hours-old baby pictures of a now middle-aged cosmos.

"Almost all of the helium in the universe was produced in the first three minutes of cosmic time," says Thibaut Louis, University Paris-Saclay and one of the lead authors of the new papers. "Our new measurements of its abundance agree very well with theoretical models and with observations in galaxies." The elements that we humans are made of—mostly carbon, with oxygen and nitrogen and iron and even traces of gold—were formed later in stars and are just a sprinkling on top of this cosmic stew.

"We've measured more precisely that the observable universe extends almost 50 billion light years in all directions from us, and contains as much mass as 1,900 'zetta-suns," or almost 2 trillion trillion suns," says Erminia Calabrese, professor of astrophysics at the University of Cardiff. Another 500 zetta-Suns of mass are mysterious dark matter.

Kastner, Ruth. The Quantum Master and its Classical Emissary.. arXiv:2410.10902. This entry is an invited talk the University of Maryland physicist given at "Metaphysics and the Matter with Thing" conference (search) in February 2024 arranged by the Center for Process Studies and CA Institute of Integral Studies. Its topical occasion was an extended appreciation of Iain McGilchrist’s latest two volume edition The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World. Her unique appreciation is conveyed by these quotes.

Western thought: All Yang, No Yin The prevailing Western left-brain framework puts us in a constraining metaphysical box characterized by an overdependence on Yang-like particles and neglect of crucial Yin processes. In effect, the classically-restricted Emissary is in charge instead of the quantum-aware Master.

Ian McGilchrist's works present the thesis that the two hemispheres of the brain have radically different modes of interacting with the world, and that their perceptions and functions must be integrated which requires restoring the right-brain to its proper place as "Master." I discuss a parallel to this insight in the dichotomous "worlds" of quantum and classical physics. In addition, I discuss the relevance of Whitehead's process philosophy, as well as the Taoist concepts of Yin and Yang, with particular attention to the primacy of Yin underlying the quantum level as "Master."

MY overall thesis is that the quantum level should be regarded as the fundamental "Master" of physical reality, while the classical level is a secondary "Emissary." In effect, the classical phase functions as a "user interface" between an observer and the totality of physical reality. As McGilchrist has noted, the left hemisphere of the brain employs analytic modes of thought about apparently separate objects. Thus, the left-brain works with a mechanical scheme based on its past behavior. In contrast, the right hemisphere has a global awareness with intuitive and synthetic aspects that transcends the analytic left-brain mode.

McGilchrist, Iain. The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World. London: Perspectiva Press, 2023. The Scottish psychologist follows up his luminous, popular 2009 edition, noted below, with this two volume set whose total 1,800 pages provide an erudite survey of historical wisdom. Google his name to reach current interviews and his 2024 Darwin College talk A Revolution in Thought?. A prior referral is made by citing the traditional coincidence of opposites model, along with many more. An example of how aberrant, narrow focus our western mindset is, sans any integral sense, might be a total inability to perceive that the polarized me, right, conserve and We, left, create views are reflections of nature’s universal gender complements. See The Quantum Master and its Classical Emissary by Ruth Kastner at arXiv:2410.10902 for her views and links to a conference.

In this major work since The Master and His Emissary (2009), Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest questions that humanity faces today. Who are we? What is the world? What is consciousness, matter, space and time? In so doing, he argues that we are trapped in an account of objects by the brain's left hemisphere alone that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality. He suggests that to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination for which the holistic right hemisphere plays the most important aspect. By way of the latest neuroscience, philosophy and physics, he enlightens a vision that returns the world to life, and us to a better way of living in it: one we must embrace if we are to survive.

Muthukrishna, Michael. A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2025. As the quotes and bio support, this accessible work draws on the Sri Lankan author’s international educational and personal experiences to initially describe an inclusive synthesis of life’s emergent course due more to collaborative qualities than isolate individuals. With this conducive scenario in place, the essay goes on to advocate a systems view of creative policies for energy supply and use, equitable climate mitigation, empathic social ambience and so on.

Playing on the phrase “a theory of everything” from physics, Michael Muthukrishna’s ambitious, original, and deeply hopeful book A Theory of Everyone draws on recent research across the sciences, and humanities, to paint a panoramic picture of who we are and can become. Muthukrishna argues that it is our ability to create a shared culture of knowledge, skills, and experience that distinguishes us. But it is only by understanding and applying these attributes can we solve the practical challenges and divisions that daunt us today.

Energy, innovation, cooperation, and evolution are four laws; four interconnected ways to carve up the world and explain how geography, institutions, culture, and history have played out. For now, let me show you how these laws manifest in each of our lives and then in the history of all life. (30)

Our success as a species is due to an ability to innovate, but not by individual intelligence alone. Instead, innovations are a result of our collective brains as humans come together to learn from one another and share ideas. Indeed, it is these collective processes that have led to every innovation that surrounds us. Even the simplest things in our lives are the product of accumulated knowledge, borrowed and recombined across multiple generations in diverse cultures, spanning the globe. (135)

Michael Muthukrishna is a Professor of Economic Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science and Affiliate in Developmental Economics and Data Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Odling-Smee, John. Niche Construction: How Life Contributes to Its Own Evolution.. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2024. The octogenarian author (82) has had a long dual career in British public service and at Oxford University with advanced degrees in economics and biological anthropology, which he later taught. As a result, the work covers a wider expanse with two main parts: Life on Any Planet and Life on Earth. Ten chapters course from What is Life and Information all the way to Ecosystems and How Humans are Contributing to Evolution. Our review then makes note of a strongest recognition to date of the major transitions scale and especially a latest planetary envelope, as the quotes cite. For a planetarity name we suggest a personal Earthumanity. The entire book text is accessible in a PDF on the MIT Press site.

In Niche Construction, John Odling-Smee extends evolutionary theory from how populations of organisms respond to natural selection to a more general overview about the coevolution of organisms with their environments. The author contends that orthodox evolution does not describe how organisms and groups contribute to their own environment-changing niche constructing activities. It also fails to explain how genetic guidance can give rise to knowledge-gaining processes which include individual and socio-cultural learnings in animals and our human phase. Neo-Darwinism assesses the fitness in populations, but without attributing these capacities to an active, purposeful agency.

Knowledge-gaining systems in biology must be able to sense the causal texture and dynamics of the environments that they experience in both space and time. Over time, they have to accumulate a remembered history of these interactions. The histories accumulated by different knowledge-gaining systems then provide the data that informs organisms. (75) In the context of NCT, our empirical sciences can be seen as a form of sociocultural niche construction. In the first instance, the goals of science are typically those of gaining of more meaningful information about how nature works. (129)

We have now reached the last chapter of part I. In this chapter, I will claim that everything we have discussed so far should also be relevant to life anywhere in the universe. But shouldn’t our understanding of the putative (generally considered) lawfulness of evolutionary biology be restricted to Earth? I think not, because I have described life’s evolution in a manner consistent with the fundamental under lying laws of physics and chemistry, including thermodynamics, which will not vary across the universe. (152)

Perhaps the best evidence for evolving populations of organisms breaking through barriers comes from the major transitions evolution scale which involves the aggregation and cooperation of lower-level members into a higher-level entity. Examples are the integration of genes into chromosomes and single cells into multicellular metazoan organisms. Herein I propose to consider the origin of life, prokaryotic to eukaryotic cells, and the transition from social animals to language-based, human sociocultural groups. (286)

There is considerable evidence that the evolution of life on Earth has proceeded through a series of major transitions in evolution, and again niche construction lies at the heart of it. I’ll focus on bioinformatics whereby each succession achieves an increase in the efficiency of a knowledge-gaining process. According to Maynard-Smith and Szathmáry, the last of these major transitions refers to the appearance of human societies, and language. I suggest that this corresponds to the moment when the evolutionary process becomes aware of itself, at least in the conscious, intelligent minds of one of its own creatures - human beings. (345)

From our human point of view, the individual cells in our bodies have a purpose to contribute to something greater than themselves— namely, us. By analogy, I suspect that we may be contributing to something incomparably greater than ourselves by our mortal lives. But unlike the individual cells, we may slowly come to know a great deal more about what we may be contributing to. If we can avoid self-destruction, and if we don’t destroy science, there is every chance that our collective understanding of what we may be contributing to will increase. (346)

Ovchinnikov, Igor. Ubiquitous order known as chaos. Chaos, Solitons & Fractals. 181/114611, 2024.. Chaos, Solitons & Fractals. 181/114611, 2024. We cite this entry by a Russian-American researcher with a physics PhD from UCLA as a notable instance whence Western notions of a random, unwieldy nature can be perceived, if one is so moved, as suffused with an inherent orderliness. The basic source of this alternative view is a referral to a “supersymmetric theory of stochastic dynamics.” See also From Disorder to Design: Entropy-Driven Self-Organization in an Agent Based Swarming Model and Pattern Formation by Vinesh Vijayan, et al at arXiv:2503.18401 for a similar notice from India. In regard, each instance tacitly fassumes a phenomenal existence which is distinguished by an iconic self-similarity.

A close relation has recently emerged between two of the most fundamental concepts in physics and mathematics: chaos and supersymmetry. In contrast to the word 'chaos,' its true physical essence now appears to be a spontaneous order caused by the breakdown of the topological supersymmetry (TS) in all systems from cosmology to nanoscience. This new perspective be called the supersymmetric theory of stochastic dynamics (STS) as theoretical explanations of 1/f noise and self-organized criticality. In this paper, we discuss a field-theoretic embodiment of the butterfly effect which would provide its first consistent physical theory. (I. Ovchinnikov)
From a more general perspective, STS establishes a solid link between dynamical systems and high-energy physics theories. This link may help elevating fields such as hydrodynamics and neurodynamics to a higher level of mathematical precision, rigor, and predictive power. In return, high-energy physics can get access to a broad experimental testing ground for concepts that were previously confined solely to the realm of theoretical abstraction. (9)

This letter seeks to illuminate the profound connection between complexity, self-organization, emergent behaviour, pattern formation, and entropy concepts that are vital to understand our universe. By examining these aspects through the lenses of physics, information theory, and nonlinear dynamics, we uncover a fascinating narrative. Starting with a random cluster of particles possessing distinct internal properties, we activate their interactions and observe the occurrence of intricate patterns. This journey reveals a transition to more probable states. (V. Vijayan)

Teixeira de Melo, Ana. Families as Complex Systems: Love-Force, Change and Resilience. London: Routledge, 2025. The author (bio below) achieves a unique, empathic perception of familial settings as an human epitome of nature’s archetypal conducive complementary.

This book presents an innovative framework for viewing families as complex systems as a way to support positive change, adaptation and resilience. Its theoretical novelty is mostly expressed in the notion of a relational Love-Force emerging from coupling processes between individuals as transformative effects on them, their interactions and environments.

Ana Teixeira de Melo is a Psychologist and Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal. She has been tracing an interdisciplinary research pathway within the contexts of professional practice. She is also the author of Performing Complexity: Building Foundations for the Practice of Complex Thinking (2020).

Pedia Sapiens: A Planetary Progeny Comes to Her/His Own Actual Factual Twintelligent Knowledge

Durante, Chris. Flourishing – Now and for the Ages to Come: Discerning Ethical Wisdom in the Book of Nature. Fuller, Michael, et al, eds. Issues in Science and Theology:. Fuller, Michael, et al, eds. Issues in Science and Theology: Global Sustainability. Switzerland, Springer, 2023. A Saint Peter’s University, Jersey City provides an array of natural sensibilities such as symbiosis and biomimicry to make a latest ecological case for the presence of this traditional worldly edition.

Adopting the view that divine revelation is not limited to scripture but also occurs in the ‘book of nature,’ this essay seeks to develop a new vision of personal and planetary viability by reformulating Maximus Confessor’s two book theology in the context of contemporary life sciences. Yet, what type of exegesis would be required for theologically reading the ‘book of nature’? I will contend that this requires new empirical, rational, and spiritual modes of inquiry as we strive to ensure a sustainable future for humanity and our earthly kin with whom we share our planetary home. (Excerpt)

, . Zheng, Yizhen, et al. Large language models for scientific discovery in molecular property prediction. Nature Machine Intelligence. February 23, 2025. Nature Machine Intelligence. February 23, 2025. We cite this entry by seven Monash University computer scientists led by Geoffrey Webb to convey how researchers are assimilating AI facilities so as to achieve an effective human foresight and machine learning symbiosis. In addition to biochemistry, further usages for physical chemistry, quantum mechanics, physiology, and biophysics are illustrated. See also Generative AI as a tool to accelerate the field of ecology by Kasim Rafiq, et al in Nature Ecology & EvolutionNature Computational Science (February 2025) for similar syntheses.

Large language models (LLMs) are AI systems which contain vast knowledge in the form of natural language. Although LLMs have some usage, their potential for scientific discovery remains as yet unexplored. In this work, we introduce LLM4SD as custom designed for molecular property prediction by synthesizing information from literature and data. By using these features with interpretable models, LLM4SD can achieve sensible learnings by which to transform biomolecules into vital feature vectors. Our proven results show can foster across a range of benchmark properties for predicting molecular properties. (Excerpt)

Angeloudi, Eirini, et al. The Multimodal Universe: Enabling Large-Scale Machine Learning of 100TB of Astronomical Scientific Data.. arXiv:2412.02527. Twenty-nine Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, MIT, Flatiron I nstitute, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, New York, Australian National, Princeton, Columbia, Paris Saclay, Toronto, UC Berkeley, Montreal and Johns Hopkins University astronomers including Miles Cranmer, aka The Multimodal Universe Collaboration describe this first worldwise edition to demonstrate how 100TB (terabytes) of received ciphers can be collected, curated and made accessible. See also The Well: a Large-Scale Collection of Diverse Physics Simulations for Machine Learning by Ruben Ohana, et al. (arXiv:2412.00568) and The Physicist Working to Build Science-Literate AI by John Pavlus in Quanta (February 28, 2025).

We present the MULTIMODAL UNIVERSE, a large-scale repository of scientific astronomical data compiled to facilitate machine learning research. Overall, it contains hundreds of millions of astronomical observations, hyper-spectral images, multivariate time series and more. We include benchmark representatives of standard practices for machine learning methods in astrophysics. (Excerpt)

Multimodal refers to data that comes in multiple formats or “modalities.”. For example, an image of a galaxy is a two-dimensional array of pixel intensities, while a spectrum encodes brightness at different wavelengths, and a time series captures how the brightness of a source evolves. Each modality offers a unique window into the physics of the source under study.

Li, Xiaomei, et al. A Conceptual Framework for Human-AI Collaborative Genome Annotation.. arXiv:2503.23691. This entry by seven Agriculture & Food, CSIRO, NSW, Australia and University of Leeds, UK researchers is another good instance of a dedicated reciprocity between individual persons and Earthwise computational neural facilities. In regard, though this best balance requires that a proper infrastructure be specifically put in place.

Genome annotation is essential for understanding the functional elements within them. While automated methods can process much genomic data, they have trouble predicting gene structures and functions. Consequently, expert curation remains crucial and shows as it integrates human expertise with AI capabilities to improve both the accuracy and efficiency. However, manual curation process is difficult to scale for large datasets. Here we propose a Human-AI Collaborative Genome Annotation (HAICoGA) method to enhance the synergistic partnership between humans and AI. (Excerpt)

Stenhouse, Alan, et al. A vision of human–AI collaboration for enhanced biological collection curation and research.. Bioscience. April, 2025. In this American Institute of Biological Science journal, nine National Collections and Marine Infrastructure Research Unit, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia ecoscholars provide a good example of an intentional meld of people and AI coworkers to advance this historic project to a worldwise significance. By a philoSophia view, one might even imagine that our human role and contribution could be seen as ecosmic curators (also catalysts) going forth to gather, record and arrange a natural genesis.

Natural history collections play a crucial role biodiversity, conservation, climate change, and food security. By leveraging human–AI collaborations, we aim to transform the way biological collections are curated and managed so to realize their full potential in global challenges. Here we explore general curation issues, and the benefits derived from AI-based assistants. Our aim is not to replace of human expertise, which remains essential for high-level decision-making, quality control, and advancing the theoretical frameworks of taxonomy and systematics. (Abstract)

Learning the Universe. learning-the-universe.org.. . This is an initial Simons Foundation project website, circa 2024. for dedicated research by persons and groups to gain scientific multimedia descriptions of galactic phenomena. Two new papers in 2025 are: Learning the Universe: Learning to Optimize Cosmic Initial Conditions with Non-Differentiable Structure Formation Models by Doeser, Ludvig Doeser, et al (arXiv:2502.13243) and Learning the Universe: physically-motivated priors for dust attenuation curves by Laura Sommovigo, et al (arXiv:2502.13240).

The evolution of our Universe is determined by its initial conditions and the physical laws that govern it. However, neither are open to direct determination, but must be inferred from observations. This collaboration plans a Bayesian forward modeling approach, where we repeat a set of initial conditions, predict observational consequences, compare to the real galaxies, and compute their actual likelihood.

Bentley, Sarah. Knowing you know nothing in the age of generative AI.. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. March 10, 2025. In this Nature journal, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and a Responsible and Inclusive AI Women Winner 2024, posts an expansive survey that first reviews an historical context of learning methods from Greece to paper text to the digital internet. With this in place, the article carefully considers ways that a practical reciprocity of human persons and algorithmic agents, once again, might be achieved going forward. Our interest then extends to such a properly arranged global presence whom can gain salutary discovers on her/his own.

Generative AI is a revolutionary new technology whose impact promises to democratize knowledge. And yet, unlike the printing press, which served to amplify one voice to many, Gen AI reduces many voices to one. My Comment situates this novel resource within the evolutionary context of human information dissemination and knowledge production. Whilst noting its extraordinary potential, I propose that since factual cognitive content is such a valuable asset we should be applying it to better understand the impact of AI-mediated informational inputs on both personal and planetary welfare. (Abstract)

Not wishing to negate the enormous potential of generative AI, nor dampen its enthusiastic uptake, it would seem wise at this early point to evaluate the trending tendency to farm out our knowledge practices to this latest wave of technological hyperactivity. Given the value that we peoples place on relative know-how and the role it plays in education, innovation, societal ambience, an understanding of the impact of these new worldwide tools on—both quantitative and qualitative—would seem in order. (5)

Apidianaki, Marianna, et al.. Language Learning, Representation, and Processing in Humans and Machines. .. Computational Linguistics.. 50/4, 2025. University of Pennsylvania, Aix Marseille University and University of Stuttgart AI scholars introduce a special issue on this topic whereby practitioners compare how human persons and large language models gain their knowledge content and pursue and express its productive usage. Into this year, the tacit theme is now to find to ways align the two modes for mutual benefit. Some typical detailed entries are: Usage-based Grammar Induction from Minimal Cognitive Principles, Can Language Models Handle Recursively Nested Grammatical Structures? and Humans Learn Language from Situated Communicative Interactions.

Large Language Models (LLMs) and human beings acquire knowledge about language without direct supervision. LLMs do so by specific training objectives, while humans rely on sensory experience and social interaction. Yet, the differences in the way that language is processed by machines and humans in terms of learning mechanisms, data used, and different modalities make a direct translation difficult. The aim of this edited volume is to be a forum of exchange and debate along this line of research with contributions that seek similarities and differences between humans and LLMs.

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