LEAP Lab, CLEA, Free University of Brussels is inviting you to a remote talk by Zann Gill (ZOOM link below)
Thursday, June 11, 2026, 8:00am – 9:30am California time; 5 PM CET
Talk Topic & Abstract: Co-bootstrapping the Origins of Life: Autonomy – Pattern Recognition (APR) Cycles
Theorists constructing origins of life hypotheses face obstacles that imply an assumed precursor hypothesis. Obstacles for origins of life theorists include 1) lack of an agreed definition of life; 2) the combinatorial improbability of non-life becoming alive; and 3) the three-pronged debate about alternative hypotheses of what occurred first in origins of life and whether origins were discrete or continuous. Although whether origins of life occurred with the first instance of replication, metabolism, or enclosure is debated, all three hypotheses assume that first life was able to receive, interpret, and respond to signals to replicate, perform thermodynamic functions and distinguish itself from other to remain alive. This assumption implies a precursor hypothesis, that origins of life required complementary co-bootstrapping cycles, Autonomy and Pattern Recognition (APR), to co-define life. Some origins of life debates can be resolved via this integrating framework within which competing theories about origins of life are complementary. Finally, studying the challenge of constructing origins of life hypotheses without access to the original event, and without material evidence of what occurred, not only led to the APR hypothesis but also showed how scientific method has evolved over the last century.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6502920751?pwd=T3BhVDI5bjNDYmpkbTBZaHF2OGtRdz09&omn=81026503303
Meeting ID: 650 292 0751
Passcode: POW
One tap mobile +16699006833,,6502920751# US (San Jose) +16694449171,,6502920751# US
By attending, you agree that the talk, and discussion following the talk, will be recorded and later posted online.
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Zann Gill gave a recent related talk, hosted by GRC (remote)
Thursday June 4, 2026 at 8 AM California Time, 5 PM CET
Talk Topic & Abstract: Internetworking: Lessons from Natural Evolution for DANs (Distributed Autonomous Nodes)
Self-organisation and emergence underpin strategies to address today’s polycrisis. After an overview of diverse applications of these principles in biology and the physical sciences, this talk focuses on how they can be used to reduce the impact of centrally controlled, exploitative social networks and collective intelligence consensus methods that suck into a central processor input from homogenised, anonymous contributors. In contrast, self-organisation and emergence operate at all scales and through time, from the origin of life through its evolution to complexity and are manifest in empowering social networks. These principles underpin a model for self-organising hybrid human-A.I. social networks composed of DANs (Distributed Autonomous Nodes) that can manifest collaborative intelligence, as natural evolution does, acknowledging each unique self-organising contributor and supporting an emergent discovery process. Each DAN is an organisation or topic with a human registrar/ driver. The A.I., which collects “prompts” from each human user, enables all users to co-train and collaboratively guide the evolution of its recommender system. Via ongoing feedback loops, crowdsourced comments, and progress tracking, as human users browse across overlapping nodes, searching, classifying, rating content, and receiving points for their contributions, the user interface and functionality evolves. Human users can work independently or use the online system for coalition-building, linking nodes in a hybrid human-A.I. network, co-evolving collaborative intelligence,
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Background on LEAP Lab. LEAP Lab is a new, transdisciplinary research group, founded to address today’s complex systems problems, where overspecialisation cannot connect the dots. LEAP Lab sits within CLEA, the Centre Leo Apostel at the Free University of Brussels, which is known for transdisciplinary research across scientific, social and cultural disciplines – examining paradigm shifts and designing strategies for the future of life on Earth.
Background on this talk. Zann will give a rapid overview of the foundation in theoretical studies of biology and evolution for the approach to internetworking that she describes. “Every slide in her talk is someone’s life work, or the work of a large community of researchers over many years.” From this bird’s eye flyover we’ll explore connections across disciplines. More on Zann Gill. Related talk on the historical context at the Centenary of the Noosphere Conference at UC Berkeley.
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