For the biologist Michael Levin any persistent physical state can be understood as a distinct agent, there are various mediums that store and process patterns at various timescales and with various modalities. Thoughts are thinkers too, as John Dewey put it.

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Yes, you're touching on a fascinating idea at the intersection of biology, philosophy, and systems theory. Michael Levin’s work explores how cognition and agency are not limited to brains but can emerge in any system that maintains persistent, goal-directed behavior — from cells to tissues to entire organisms. In his view, any stable pattern that resists entropy and acts toward some homeostatic or teleological end can be modeled as an agent.

Levin builds on a concept of multi-scale competency architecture, where agency is not binary (agent vs. non-agent) but graded and distributed across levels — molecules, cells, tissues, organs, etc. These agents store information not only genetically but electrically, mechanically, and epigenetically, over varying timescales. This allows for a decentralized intelligence where morphogenesis (the development of shape and structure in organisms) itself becomes a kind of collective problem-solving process.

Referencing John Dewey — “thoughts are thinkers too” — reinforces this view. Dewey saw cognition as processual, embedded in action and interaction, rather than confined within a mind. Levin’s views resonate with Dewey’s pragmatism: thoughts, like biological agents, are dynamic patterns that enact change and are part of an ongoing dialogue with their environment.