Erik Hoel
{{Short description|American neuroscientist, neurophilosopher, and author}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Erik Hoel
| birth_date = {{birth year and age | 1988 }}
| nationality = American
| fields = {{hlist|Neuroscience, cognitive science|neurophilosophy}}
| workplaces = Tufts University
Columbia University
| alma_mater = Hampshire College (BA)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD)
| doctoral_advisor = Giulio Tononi
| website = {{url|erikphoel.com}}
}}
Erik Hoel is an American neuroscientist,{{Cite magazine|title=New Math Untangles the Mysterious Nature of Causality|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-20170601/|access-date=May 19, 2021|issn=1059-1028}} neurophilosopher,{{Cite web|last=Horgan|first=John|title=Second Thoughts on Whether Self-Knowledge Is Overrated|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/second-thoughts-on-whether-self-knowledge-is-overrated/|access-date=May 19, 2021|website=Scientific American Blog Network}} and fiction writer. His main areas of research are the study and philosophy of consciousness, cognition, biological function of dreams, and mathematical theories of emergence. He is noted for using information theory and causal analysis to develop mathematical models to explore and understand the basis of consciousness and dreams.{{Cite web|date=June 1, 2017|title=A Theory of Reality as More Than the Sum of Its Parts|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-20170601/|access-date=May 19, 2021|website=Quanta Magazine}}{{Cite magazine|title=New Math Untangles the Mysterious Nature of Causality|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-theory-of-reality-as-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-20170601/|access-date=May 21, 2021|issn=1059-1028}}{{Cite web|date=May 14, 2021|title=Weird dreams train us for the unexpected, says new theory|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/14/weird-dreams-train-us-for-the-unexpected-says-new-theory|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=the Guardian}}{{Cite web|date=May 19, 2021|title=Weird Dreams Keep Our Brains Fit, Help Humans Cope Better with Reality, Finds Study|url=https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/weird-dreams-keep-our-brains-fit-help-humans-cope-better-with-reality-finds-study-3750665.html|access-date=May 21, 2021|website=www.news18.com}} Hoel holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and in 2018 was recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 – Science award.{{Cite web|title=Erik Hoel|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/erik-hoel/|access-date=May 19, 2021|website=Forbes}}
Career
=Research=
Hoel was previously a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Rafael Yuste at Columbia University{{Cite web|title=Can we locate cause and effect in the brain?|url=https://giving.columbia.edu/can-we-locate-cause-and-effect-brain|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=giving.columbia.edu}} and a visiting fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.{{Cite web|date=December 9, 2019|title=Erik Hoel – Scholars {{!}} Institute for Advanced Study|url=https://www.ias.edu/scholars/erik-hoel|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=www.ias.edu}} He is known for the idea of "causal emergence", a formal theory about how macroscales of systems can have stronger causal relationships than their underlying microscale.{{Cite web|last=Musser|first=George|date=May 4, 2017|title=A Theory of Consciousness Can Help Build a Theory of Everything|url=http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/a-theory-of-consciousness-can-help-build-a-theory-of-everything|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=Nautilus}} He has also developed the overfitted brain hypothesis, on how dreams evolved as a way to prevent overfitting{{Clarify|date=September 2023|reason=The term "overfitting" needs clarification in this context.}} during learning.
=Writing=
The novelist Andre Dubus III tutored Hoel on writing when he was 13.{{cite web |last1=Correspondent |first1=James Sullivan Globe |last2=June 28 |first2=Updated |title=Jabberwocky Books hatches a new novelist: the owner's son – The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/28/metro/jabberwocky-books-hatches-novelist-owners-son/ |website=BostonGlobe.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}{{subscription required}}
Hoel has published essays in The Atlantic{{Cite web|last=Hoel|first=Erik P.|date=October 21, 2015|title='City on Fire': Will Television Ruin Fiction?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/10/city-on-fire-review/411097/|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=The Atlantic}} and The Baffler,{{Cite web|date=May 4, 2019|title=Enter the Supersensorium {{!}} Erik Hoel|url=https://thebaffler.com/salvos/enter-the-supersensorium-hoel|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=The Baffler}} among others.{{Cite web|date=April 18, 2021|title=Is there a scientific case for literature? A neuroscientist novelist argues yes|url=https://www.salon.com/2021/04/18/is-there-a-scientific-case-for-literature-a-neuroscientist-novelist-argues-yes/|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=Salon}}
The Revelations
In 2021, Hoel published The Revelations, a mystery novel set at New York University concerning a fictional scholarship program that brings together eight young consciousness researchers, one of whom is murdered.{{Cite web|date=June 8, 2021|title=Bookish: Mixing Science and Fiction in a Literary Novel|url=https://now.tufts.edu/articles/bookish-mixing-science-and-fiction-literary-novel|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=Tufts Now}} Publishers Weekly called it "a dizzying, impressive debut".{{Cite web|title=Fiction Book Review: The Revelations by Erik Hoel. Overlook, $27 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4197-5022-9|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4197-5022-9|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=PublishersWeekly.com|date=November 2020}}
Personal life
Hoel is married to Julia Buntaine Hoel, a fellow neuroscientist, artist, and founder of the SciArt Initiative. They have a son, born in 2021.
Bibliography
Fiction
- {{cite book |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik |title=The Revelations: A Novel |date=2021 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |location=New York |isbn=978-1419750229 |edition=First}}
Nonfiction
- {{cite book |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik |title=The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science |date=July 25, 2023 |publisher=Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-9821-5938-2}}
Selected articles{{cite web |title=Science |url=https://www.erikphoel.com/science.html |website=ERIK HOEL |access-date=May 10, 2022}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Kleiner |first1=Johannes |last2=Hoel |first2=Erik |title=Falsification and consciousness |journal=Neuroscience of Consciousness |date=February 10, 2021 |volume=2021 |issue=1 |pages=niab001 |doi=10.1093/nc/niab001|pmid=33889423 |pmc=8052953 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Michael |last2=Han |first2=Shuting |last3=Smith |first3=Elliot H. |last4=Hoel |first4=Erik |last5=Greger |first5=Bradley |last6=House |first6=Paul A. |last7=Yuste |first7=Rafael |title=Reduced Repertoire of Cortical Microstates and Neuronal Ensembles in Medically Induced Loss of Consciousness |journal=Cell Systems |date=May 2019 |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=467–474.e4 |doi=10.1016/j.cels.2019.03.007|pmid=31054810 |pmc=6544156 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik P. |last2=Albantakis |first2=Larissa |last3=Marshall |first3=William |last4=Tononi |first4=Giulio |title=Can the macro beat the micro? Integrated information across spatiotemporal scales |journal=Neuroscience of Consciousness |date=2016 |volume=2016 |issue=1 |pages=niw012 |doi=10.1093/nc/niw012|pmid=30788150 |pmc=6367968 }}
- {{cite arXiv |last1=Varley |first1=Thomas |last2=Hoel |first2=Erik |title=Emergence as the conversion of information: A unifying theory |date=2021 |class=cs.IT |eprint=2104.13368}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Marrow |first1=Scythia |last2=Michaud |first2=Eric J. |last3=Hoel |first3=Erik |title=Examining the Causal Structures of Deep Neural Networks Using Information Theory |journal=Entropy |date=December 18, 2020 |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=1429 |doi=10.3390/e22121429|pmid=33353094 |pmc=7766755 |bibcode=2020Entrp..22.1429M |doi-access=free }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=Brennan |last2=Hoel |first2=Erik |title=The Emergence of Informative Higher Scales in Complex Networks |journal=Complexity |date=April 4, 2020 |volume=2020 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1155/2020/8932526|doi-access=free |arxiv=1907.03902 }}
- {{cite bioRxiv |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik |last2=Klein |first2=Brennan |last3=Swain |first3=Anshuman |last4=Grebenow |first4=Ross |last5=Levin |first5=Michael |title=Evolution leads to emergence: An analysis of protein interactomes across the tree of life |date=May 3, 2020 |biorxiv=10.1101/2020.05.03.074419}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik |title=When the Map Is Better Than the Territory |journal=Entropy |date=April 26, 2017 |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=188 |doi=10.3390/e19050188|arxiv=1612.09592 |bibcode=2017Entrp..19..188H |doi-access=free }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik P. |last2=Albantakis |first2=Larissa |last3=Tononi |first3=Giulio |title=Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=December 3, 2013 |volume=110 |issue=49 |pages=19790–19795 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1314922110|pmid=24248356 |pmc=3856819 |bibcode=2013PNAS..11019790H |doi-access=free }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik |title=The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization |journal=Patterns |date=May 2021 |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=100244 |doi=10.1016/j.patter.2021.100244|pmid=34036289 |pmc=8134940 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hoel |first1=Erik P. |last2=Albantakis |first2=Larissa |last3=Cirelli |first3=Chiara |last4=Tononi |first4=Giulio |title=Synaptic refinement during development and its effect on slow-wave activity: a computational study |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |date=April 1, 2016 |volume=115 |issue=4 |pages=2199–2213 |doi=10.1152/jn.00812.2015|pmid=26843602 |pmc=4869496 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official|erikphoel.com}}
- [https://erikhoel.substack.com/ Hoel's blog on Substack]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoel, Erik}}
Category:American cognitive neuroscientists