Daniel Czegel

Research Specialist - ELIFE and Beyond Center of ASU
Contact: danielczegel@gmail.com
Twitter: @daniel_czegel 
Education: Physics BSc at Eötvös University, Budapest; Cognitive Science MSc Budapest University of Technology & Economics; Physics of Complex Systems MSc at University of Balearic Islands; Theoretical & Evolutionary Biology PhD (ongoing) at Eötvös University, Budapest; visiting student at Dept. of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Current Research: Darwinian evolution has generated "endless forms most beautiful" on Earth - an apparent design in a no-design universe. I want to understand  where intelligence without designer comes from, seeking answers to questions such as:
  • In what precise mathematical sense is Darwinian evolution intelligent?
  • Does Darwinian evolution contribute to our own intelligence - operating over neural informational patterns as replicators in the brain?
  • Where does design come into play to shape chemical complexity, where does it come from and how can we manipulate it?

Some past and current work I contributed to:
 
Towards a unified theory of high-dimensional adaptations. Analogies between dynamics of replicator populations and Bayesian computations
 
- Czégel, D., Giaffar, H., Zachar, I., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Szathmáry, E. (2020). Evolutionary implementation of Bayesian computations. BioRxiv, 685842.
 
- Czégel, D., Zachar, I., & Szathmáry, E. (2019). Multilevel selection as Bayesian inference, major transitions in individuality as structure learning. Royal Society open science, 6(8), 190202.
 
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Emergence of life in the brain? The Darwinian neurodynamics hypothesis
 
- Czégel, D., Giaffar, H., Csillag, M., Futó, B., & Szathmáry, E. (2021). Novelty and imitation within the brain: a Darwinian neurodynamic approach to combinatorial problems. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1-14.
 
- Talk at the Santa Fe Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9JRVJq6Wb4&t=1s 
 
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How to build a brain? Combinatorial encoding of (neural) network connectivity
 
- Barabási, D. L., & Czégel, D. (2021). Constructing graphs from genetic encodings. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-13.
 
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Macroscopic models of strongly interacting systems & generalized entropies
 
- Balogh, S. G., Palla, G., Pollner, P., & Czégel, D. (2020). Generalized entropies, density of states, and non-extensivity. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-12.
 
- Czégel, D., Balogh, S. G., Pollner, P., & Palla, G. (2018). Phase space volume scaling of generalized entropies and anomalous diffusion scaling governed by corresponding non-linear Fokker-Planck equations. Scientific reports, 8(1), 1-8.
 
- Talk the the 2020 Conference on Complex Systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B7zJSmhvi4 at 47:30
 
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What is hierarchical organization and how to measure it?
 
- Czégel, D., & Palla, G. (2015). Random walk hierarchy measure: What is more