Exploring the revolutionary framework that challenges our understanding of cognition across biological scales
What if everything we thought we knew about minds and thinking is far too limited? Imagine if intelligence isn't confined to brains, or even to biological organisms as we typically recognize them.
This isn't science fiction—it's the provocative premise of Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere (TAME), a groundbreaking scientific framework developed by researcher Michael Levin that challenges our most fundamental assumptions about where minds exist and what they are 1 .
Levin's TAME framework proposes that cognition exists at multiple scales throughout biological systems, from individual cells to entire organisms.
The Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere (TAME) represents a paradigm shift in how we study and understand cognition. At its core, TAME formalizes a non-binary, empirically-based approach to understanding agency and intelligence across diverse physical systems 1 .
Traditional views of intelligence often present a binary: something either has a mind or doesn't. TAME rejects this simplistic division in favor of a continuous spectrum of cognitive sophistication.
Levin proposes an "axis of persuadability" that ranges from simple systems that can only be manipulated through physical rewiring to complex systems that can be influenced through rational argument 1 .
Biological systems display what Levin terms "multi-scale competency"—a nested architecture where each level exhibits problem-solving capabilities 1 .
Information processing & decision making
Goal-directed behavior & learning
Collective problem-solving
Traditional cognition
Swarm intelligence
| Level of Organization | Cognitive Capabilities | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular Networks | Information processing & decision making | Gene regulation networks |
| Single Cells | Goal-directed behavior & learning | Immune cells tracking pathogens |
| Tissues & Organs | Collective problem-solving | Planaria regeneration |
| Whole Organisms | Traditional cognition | Human learning & memory |
| Collectives | Swarm intelligence | Insect colonies, human societies 1 |
All known cognitive agents are collective intelligences, because we are all made of parts.1
One of the most compelling areas of research supporting TAME's principles comes from studies of body schema plasticity. The body schema is our brain's dynamic representation of our body's position in space—a guidance system that allows us to move efficiently without constantly watching our limbs 8 .
Philosopher Merleau-Ponty contributed significantly to this concept, rejecting the traditional mind-body dualism in favor of understanding the body as an "agent" or "fulcrum" of our experience in the world.
Participants watch a rubber hand being stroked while their own hidden hand is synchronously stroked, creating the illusion that the rubber hand belongs to them.
Participants use tools to reach objects, testing how the body schema expands to incorporate the tool as a temporary extension of the body.
Using mirrors to create visual feedback that tricks the brain into perceiving movement or touch in limbs that aren't actually moving.
Studies consistently show that the body schema is highly plastic—it can quickly expand to incorporate external objects like tools or even rubber hands, then contract back to normal once the object is no longer being used. This plasticity demonstrates the fundamental adaptive capacity of our neural representations 8 .
| Method | Procedure | Measured Effects | Clinical Applications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rubber Hand Illusion | Synchronous brushing of visible rubber hand and hidden real hand | Proprioceptive drift, subjective ownership reports | Understanding phantom limb pain, body ownership disorders |
| Tool Use | Extended use of tools to manipulate objects | Changes in reaching kinematics, perceptual changes | Rehabilitation after stroke or injury |
| Mirror Box | Mirror reflects intact limb to appear in position of affected limb | Pain reduction, increased movement in affected limb | Phantom limb pain, stroke rehabilitation 8 |
The study of diverse minds and embodied cognition requires innovative tools and methodologies.
| Method/Tool | Function/Application | Example Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Bioelectricity Recording & Manipulation | Measures and manipulates ion channels and gap junctions to understand how cell networks process information | Scaling cell-level cognition to anatomical homeostasis 1 |
| Bodily Illusions (RHI, MBI) | Investigates plasticity of body representation and sense of agency | Understanding body schema dynamics, clinical rehabilitation 8 |
| Optogenetics & Chemogenetics | Precisely controls neural activity with light or chemicals | Testing causal relationships between neural activity and behavior |
| Mind-Body Practices | Studies brain-body interactions through psychological and physical techniques | Meditation, yoga, tai chi for health and cognition research 6 |
| Large-Scale Neural Monitoring | Records brain activity across multiple regions simultaneously | Mapping neural circuits during behavior |
These tools enable researchers to investigate cognitive phenomena across different scales, from molecular interactions to whole-organism behavior.
Understanding embodied cognition has direct applications in rehabilitation, treatment of neurological disorders, and development of assistive technologies.
TAME's framework forces us to reconsider what intelligence means and where we might find it. By recognizing that cognition exists at multiple scales—from cells to societies—we open new possibilities for understanding biological development, ecological systems, and even technological systems 1 .
This perspective has practical implications for regenerative medicine. If cells indeed possess cognitive capacities, we might "persuade" them rather than force them into desired configurations during healing and regeneration. This approach could lead to revolutionary treatments for birth defects, traumatic injury, and cancer 1 .
The BRAIN Initiative 2025 report emphasizes developing innovative technologies to understand the human brain and treat its disorders, creating integrated human brain research networks . TAME extends this vision beyond the human brain to include diverse intelligent systems.
As we advance in creating bio-engineered intelligences and more sophisticated AI, TAME provides a framework for recognizing and comparing truly diverse minds. This raises important ethical considerations about how we treat these systems and what responsibilities we have toward them 1 .
"Persuading" cells during tissue repair and regeneration for improved healing and organ regeneration.
Designing systems with embodied intelligence for more robust, adaptable AI.
Creating robots that incorporate biological principles for more flexible, resilient systems.
Understanding brain as multi-scale cognitive system for new approaches to neurological disorders.
Developing frameworks for diverse intelligences and guidelines for bioengineered and AI systems 1 .
The Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere represents more than just a scientific theory—it's a fundamental shift in perspective that challenges our anthropocentric view of intelligence.
By recognizing the continuity of cognitive phenomena across different scales and substrates, we open new possibilities for scientific discovery, technological innovation, and even philosophical understanding.
As Levin suggests, this framework helps us understand "how the activities of competent, lower-level agents give rise to a multiscale holobiont that is truly more than the sum of its parts" 1 .
From the intelligent behavior of cells during embryonic development to the possibility of genuinely novel forms of intelligence in bioengineered systems, TAME provides a scientifically rigorous yet expansive vision of what minds are and what they might become.
The next frontier of understanding intelligence may not be in looking upward toward more complex brains, but in recognizing the cognitive capacities that already exist all around us—and within us—at every scale of biological organization.