Neural Axis®

Neural Axis®

Academic ~ About & Brief CV

Google Scholar Profile (follow here for updated research that may not be listed below)

Book release (June 2024): “The Consciousness Explosion: A Mindful Human's Guide to the Coming Technological and Experiential Singularity”. Co-authored with AGI forerunner Dr. Ben Goertzel.
Available on Amazon (all formats) and Bookshop.org

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Neural Axis' research profile stems from the work of founder Gabriel Axel Montes. From Gabriel:

I am a neuroscientist and educator. My work centres around how the brain constructs—and how it evolved to do so—the sense of personal and bodily self and how this process can be permuted using endogenous (mind-body/self-cultivation) and exogenous (technological) methods. I leverage multi-sensory processing in a virtual reality environment to tease apart components of selfhood and agency, with the goal of reverse engineering them to beneficially intervene in these processes. I work on translating these insights on consciousness into the design and ethics of artificial (general) intelligence (AGI), with the goal of informing the development of AI that is more beneficial for humankind.

My experience as a mind-body practitioner and instructor (various forms of mindful movement, meditation, and contemplation) informs my work. Previous work includes functional genetic models of schizophrenia, transcriptomics of language and autism using neuronal cell culture, and evolutionary-aesthethic theory of visual perception.

I enjoy elucidating the neurocognitive underpinnings that regulate the sense of self and volition across variations of body schema. The mind-body practices of wisdom traditions are a point of departure for inspiring hypotheses to this end. I am additionally fascinated by economics, esoteric models of body and mind, and complex systems.

Research interests:

  • Mind-body/self-cultivation methodology & interventions

  • Consciousness

    • Bodily self-consciousness; selfhood

    • Agency/will/volition

    • Theory and philosophy of consciousness: Predictive processing; free-energy principle; enactivism/embodiment

    • AI & synthetic consciousness

    • Non-ordinary states of consciousness

    • Eastern & Western models of consciousness

  • Neurophenomenology

    • Microphenomenology & "elicitation interviews"

  • Virtual reality (VR)

  • Ethics and philosophy of AI

  • Neurocognitive rehabilitation

  • Complex systems

  • Metaresearch/meta-science

  • Integral Theory

Brief Curriculum Vitae:

Grants & Awards:

  • 2017: Visiting Researcher Travel Grant, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Denmark

  • 2017: Francisco Varela Award 2016, Mind & Life Europe

  • 2017: Commercial validation grant, Team "VR Rehab", CSIRO ON Prime pre-accelerator program

  • 2016: Visiting Researcher Travel Grant, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Denmark

  • 2016–2018: Top-up Doctoral Research Scholarship, University of Newcastle, Australia

  • 2015: Research Higher Degree Travel Grant, University of Newcastle, Australia

  • 2015–2018: International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, University of Newcastle, Australia

Talks:

  • Open-ended Intelligence. AGI Conference, 2020.

  • Neural markets. Astana Economic Forum 2018. Astana (Nursultan), Kazakhstan.

  • Simulated Body Experiences: Virtual Reality & Robotics for Stroke & Disability. August, 2017. Richmond, CA, USA

  • From tool-making to self-replication in AI: causal biomimesis & non-ordinary consciousness for artificial intelligence. Living Machines Conference 2017 (Stanford University, USA)

  • Causal biomimesis: self-replication as evolutionary consequence. 13 May 2017: Sydney Philosophy of Psychology Meeting (University of Sydney, Australia)

  • 20 October 2016: Cognition Group presentation (University of Newcastle)

  • 22 September 2016: Virtual Reality Lab, CITEC (Bielefeld University, Germany)

  • 16 November 2015: Postgraduate Students Day (University of Newcastle)

Miscellaneous Education:

Publications:

  • Gabriel Axel Montes et al. (2020). Embodied and synergetic intelligence for health and well-being: preparing for and managing the techno-social implications of Web 3.0. (submitted). https://t.ly/sfBI

  • Gabriel Axel Montes & Ben Goertzel (2020). Mindplexes, Non-Ordinary Consciousness, and Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence: a Multidisciplinary Perspective. Vernon Press. [Book chapter; pre-print: https://doi.org/10.31231/osf.io/nwyts]

  • Gabriel Axel Montes & Ben Goertzel (2019). Decentralized, distributed, and democratized artificial intelligence. Technological Forecasting & Social Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.11.010 [PDF]

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2018). Virtual Reality for Non-Ordinary Consciousness. Frontiers in Robotics and AI 5, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2018.00007

  • Gabriel Axel Montes & Mariana Caplan (2018). Neuroscience, yoga, and psychology. Yoga & Psyche. Sounds True. [Book chapter]

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2017). Causal biomimesis: self-replication as evolutionary consequence. Living Machines Conference 2017: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, pp. 328 – 347. Springer. July, 2017. [PDF]

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2017). Non-ordinary consciousness for artificial intelligence. Living Machines Conference 2017: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, pp. 348 – 362. Springer. July, 2017.

  • Gabriel Axel Montes, Bryan Paton, Andreas Roepstorff, Michael Nilsson, Christopher Levi (2017). Mind-body approaches for cognitive rehabilitation in stroke survivors. (manuscript in preparation)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2018). "Selfing": Self-cultivation through mind-body methodology, a free-energy perspective. (manuscript in preparation)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2018). The 'subtle body': models of deep interoceptive inference. (manuscript in preparation)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2016). Body ownership and agency in chronic stroke survivors with upper-limb motor deficits: a predictive processing perspective. (Poster, Barcelona Cognition Brain and Technology Summer School 2016; Barcelona, Spain)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2016). Body ownership and agency in chronic stroke survivors with upper-limb motor deficits: a predictive processing perspective. (Poster, Aegina Summer School on Social Cognition 2016; Aegina, Greece)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2015). Introduction. Proceedings of the Yoga & Psyche Conference (2014). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. (Link to volume)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2015). Neural Active: a framework for mind-body practice, neuroscience, and education. (Poster, Mind & Life Europe Summer Research Institute, 2015)

  • Gabriel Axel Montes (2010). Vision: the art of evolution. (Master's Thesis). [Link]