
Conversation with Nic Rouleau, part 2: neuroscience, memory transfer, aging of cognition, and more
From Thoughtforms Life by Michael Levin
April 3, 2026 · 56 min
About this episode
A discussion with neuroscientist Nic Rouleau covering various topics in neuroscience and cognition.
This is a ~55 minute discussion following up on Nic's talk and our brief conversation ( comprising part 2 of a conversation with a really interesting young neuroscientist, as well as friend, collaborator, and our Center member, Nicolas Rouleau ( We cover topics of consciousness, neural decoding, the meaning of neuroscience, memory transfer, cognitive plasticity and its relationship to rejuvenation therapies, intelligence throughout the universe, and the weirdest work Nic has done (he chose his work on memory in Playdoh). For more information: Nic's website: X account: @DrNRouleau Recent papers to check out: Sellar, E.P., Rouleau, N. (In Review). A cybernetic framework for synthetic biological intelligence in the era of neural tissue engineering. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/md2wf_v1. Kansala, C., Cicek, E., Nkansah-Okoree, V., Golding, A., Murugan, N.J., Rouleau, N. (In Review). Superstitious conditioning forms the experience of free will under causal determinism. Preprint doi: 10.31234/osf.io/fk3yt_v2. Roskies, A. & Rouleau, N. (Forthcoming, In Press). Research on brain organoids should prioritize questions of agency, not consciousness. AJOB Neuroscience. Rouleau, N. &…
People in this episode
Guest: Nic Rouleau
Topics covered
- neuroscience
- memory transfer
- aging of cognition
- consciousness
- neural decoding
- cognitive plasticity
- rejuvenation therapies
- intelligence throughout the universe
Keywords
- memory
- Playdoh
- synthetic biological intelligence
- neural tissue engineering
- superstitious conditioning
- brain organoids
- agency
- consciousness
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Rouleau, Kansala, Cicek, Nkansah-Okoree, Golding, Murugan, N.J.
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