Unifying the Principles of Learning with and without Brains

Unifying the principles of learning with and without brains 2025 – Scientific Report
Scientific Coordinators:  Karen Alim, Omri Barak, Naama Brenner, Jen Schwarz

The focus of our event was to promote a comparison of the concept of learning in the context of different systems, both biological and physical. Rather than focusing on a precise definition of learning, the approach taken in the workshop was to expose researchers from different scientific communities to how others think about learning, how they model it and how they relate it to various experimental and computational systems.

Accordingly, we tried to have on the list of participants leading researchers from several disciplines at the interface of physics, biology and computer science, that would not normally meet in a scientific conference. Andrea Liu is a leading soft-matter physicist, well known for her pioneering contributions to the study of jamming and glassy dynamics, and more recently together with Menachem Stern established the concept of learning in material systems. Ilya Nemenman, Adrienne Fairhall and Yonatan Loewenstein are leading figures in computational neuroscience and behavioral learning. Leonid Mirny, Erez Braun and Hanna Salman are leading biophysicists working on various cellular and sub-cellular systems. Ron Meir and Daniel Soudry, on their side, represent the engineering tradition of reinforcement learning and the younger generation in the theory of machine learning.

Our 56 participants made up a colorful collage of backgrounds, research questions and approaches: an “eclectic” group, as stated by one of the participants. Lively discussions and disputes took place regarding the definition of learning, the usefulness of comparative study, and, more generally, the use of terminology in science and how it affects the way we do research. Our participants generally reported they learned new things, and often even stated that the workshop deeply affected the way they think about the topic and will likely open new horizons for them. This is particularly true for newcomers to the field such as Yasmine Meroz and Mor Nitzan. At the same time, some felt that applying terminology such as learning to physical and biological systems is not fruitful. The fact that there were different opinions shows that the idea behind the workshop is nontrivial and novel. Walking in the Institute grounds throughout the week, one could easily spot multiple groups of researchers, young and senior, from different areas, sitting at tables with their computers or discussing at the blackboard. To us, this is a sign of success.

It remains an open scientific question whether there are unifying principles of learning that are relevant across disciplines and systems. Some of us will no doubt continue to investigate this question and search for such principles in the years to come. It would be fair to say that more people have been convinced that this is at least a question worthwhile thinking about.