Author, *Behavior and Culture in One Dimension*; Founder, GenomeWeb.com, 360Dx.com, WatersTechnology.com, FX-Markets.com; Lichenologist, Rutgers CHRB & DEENR
Joined February 2009
- Tweets 6,722
- Following 1,302
- Followers 501
- Likes 4,287
112 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
1 Sep 2023
Thanks to Madhur Mangalam for the great conversation on his BeyondPhrenology podcast, discussing my book and the work of Howard Pattee.
youtube.com/watch?v=rmVxNCbf…
2
4
1,172
Dennis P Waters retweeted
Most of molecular biology treats the cell as a computer: a program stored in DNA, executed by proteins.
Pattee saw something else: an architecture of symbols and readers that cannot be collapsed into physics without losing the meaning. (1/2)
1
1
84
Dennis P Waters retweeted
5/Prof. @drmichaellevin (@TuftsUniversity) studies how cognition scales from cells to tissues, organisms and synthetic living forms (e.g., his famous xenobots), using bioelectricity to understand pattern regulation, regeneration and diverse intelligence.
drmichaellevin.org/
1
6
12
853
Dennis P Waters retweeted
Do you love nature? Then you'll love Binghamton! Check out these outdoor spots in upstate New York, all less than a 30-minute drive from #CCS2026!
They're all perfect for hiking 🥾, biking 🚵, camping 🏕️… you name it! Trust us, the fall scenery will take your breath away. 😉🍁
1
5
5
417
Apr 9
Sometimes wishes do come true....
Mar 27
Time for Gosselin to fly solo. She can't be #2 forever.
28
Dennis P Waters retweeted
In his new book, Romain Brette pushes back against theories that describe the brain as a “biological computer.” In this excerpt, he challenges equating brain evolution with programming, and the universality of neural network models.
thetransmitter.org/theoretic…
2
21
58
5,048
Dennis P Waters retweeted
@dpwaters "Behavior and Culture in One Dimension" (2021) is underrated. It helps show how behavior, normativity, and culture cannot be flattened to state transitions without losing the organism-environment unity that makes them intelligible. An excellent intro to biosemiotics!/9
1
2
10
747
Dennis P Waters retweeted
Journey with writer @laxmevy and a team of researchers through the Arctic tundra as they sample some of Earth’s rarest and most restricted fungal species — underground wisps that govern life aboveground. This story was supported by @PulitzerCenter. quantamagazine.org/an-arctic…
1
12
31
13,441
Apr 6
Another crucial distinction is that computation has what Vygotsky called "deliberate semantics," i.e., meaning is assigned from the outside. "X" is whatever we say it is. In living systems meaning emerges through evolution, development, and behavior.
At minimum, computation is a reliable transformation of symbols according to a finite set of rules. That already makes it narrower than "whatever happens in the universe." A rock falls, a cell metabolizes, a storm forms. Not all causation is computation./2
complexitycat.org/posts/what…
2
7
359
Dennis P Waters retweeted
RIP Robert Trivers - the Einstein of evolutionary biology and one the greatest thinkers of our age.
Among other things, Trivers came up with parental investment theory, reciprocal altruism theory, and parent-offspring conflict theory.
43
270
1,182
207,150
Dennis P Waters retweeted
Behold the inner channel of the nuclear pore complex in all its messy glory. New high-def microscopy is revealing its intricacies like never before. @yasemin_sap reports: quantamagazine.org/disorder-…
2
23
86
32,586
Jan 29
Yes, it's all constrained dynamics: "The reason you can use so many formats to instruct AI is that all of these are really the same thing: attempts to get what’s in one person’s head into someone else’s actions."
oneusefulthing.org/p/managem…
52
A comprehensive survey of genome language models in bioinformatics
academic.oup.com/bib/article…
2
107
540
37,489
Dennis P Waters retweeted
Jan 15
If you exclude robotics from the question, and only focus on current AI models, then the point might be made. But robotics is precisely where Moravec's paradox hits the hardest. Some of the last people that will (if ever) lose their jobs to robots are farm field workers. That's were the paradox really needs exploring.
1
1
3
87
Dennis P Waters retweeted
22 Dec 2025
New paper led by @amahury0 published in JRS Interface:
"Closing the loop: how semantic closure enables open-ended evolution?"
royalsocietypublishing.org/r…
6
16
1,328
Dennis P Waters retweeted
17 Dec 2025
New preprint: "The Cultural Ecology of Social Media"
osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/mu…
Thread
⬇️⬇️⬇️
1
8
56
7,072
16 Dec 2025
1
33