Biological Prompt Engineering: A Cybernetics Perspective on Programmable Biology and World Models | Ekkolápto Polymath Salon
Hosted on LumaFetched 3 days ago
Thursday, February 26, 2026
to Friday, February 27, 2026
•
6 hours long
Artificial IntelligenceHealthtechResearchInnovationSocial Impact
Event Type
in person
Organizers
Quality Score
DETAILS ➡️:
• Speakers: Prof. William Hahn (MPCR/Center for Complex Systems), Prof. Elan Barenholtz (MPCR/Center for Complex Systems), Andrés Gómez-Emilsson (Qualia Research Institute), Rachel St. Clair PhD (Center for Complex Systems/ServaMind), Addy Cha (Ekkolapto).
• Food and Drinks provided for the day!
Topics ⭐️:
• Exclusive overview of Ekkolapto's launching experiment on Biological Prompt Engineering: Can we train or condition the body to "memorize" the effects/phenomenology of caffeine so we no longer have to consume it?
• Interpreting the scientific history of Pavlovian conditioning, psychosomatic conditions, hypnosis, placebo/nocebo, and method acting through the lens of modern cognitive science and information theory–and how we can use this perspective to invent new methods for safely modifying physiology and cognition.
• Follow Dr. Hahn's Work: YouTube, Substack, X.
• Follow Dr. Barenholtz' Work: X, Substack, YouTube.
• Hosted by Addy (Founder @ Ekkolapto.org, O'Shaughnessy Ventures 2025 Grantee).
• Previous hackathons, salons, podcasts, and dinners at MIT, UT Austin, FAU, Harvard, Augmentation Lab, Frontier Tower in SF, DC/Maryland, NYC, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo.
SCHEDULE 👀:
• 2PM to 2:35PM: Check-in, Lunch, Networking
• 2:35PM to 2:45PM: Foreword by Augmentation Lab’s Dünya Baradari
• 2:45PM to 3:45PM: The Software of Language and Memory | Rachel St. Clair, PhD
• 3PM to 3:30PM: Are World Models and Memory Real + Non-Verbal Prompting? | Keynote by Dr. Elan Barenholtz and Dr. Will Hahn
• 3:30PM to 4PM: Audience Q&A w/ Elan Barenholtz and William Hahn
• 4PM to 4:45PM: Meditation as a Biological Prompt for Psychedelic Effects | Andrés Gómez-Emilsson (QRI) Keynote
• 4:45 to 5:15PM: Andrés Gómez-Emilsson (QRI) Audience Q&A
• TBA!
• 6PM to 6:30PM: Can we train the body to memorize and store the effects of substances and pharmaceuticals so we no longer need to consume them? | Keynote by Addy Cha
• 6:30PM to 7PM: Audience Q/A + Salon Discussion w/ Addy
• 7PM to 8PM: Networking + Open Discussions
PREVIOUS EVENTS 📸:
• 2024 Longevity & Unconventional Computing Research Hackathon at MIT Media Lab, featuring Stephen Wolfram, David Sinclair, Curt Jaimungal, and more: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy5dPSW_KkniuHpoLwlzkYcxhxn50Mn0T
• Past Polymath Salons and discussions are uploaded for you to watch on the Ekkolápto channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ekkolapto3
• Recent Polymath Salon at UT Austin with Professor Scott Aaronson on the Philosophy of Computational Complexity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OST1DjD08Hg
• Recent Polymath Salon at University of Toronto with Michael Levin, Andrés Gómez Emilsson, and Elan Barenholtz on the Binding Problem and Platonic Spaces: https://youtu.be/0BVM0UC28nY