#325 – Michael Levin: Biology, Life, Aliens, Evolution, Embryogenesis & Xenobots

Michael Levin is a biologist at Tufts University working on novel ways to understand and control complex pattern formation in biological systems. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Michael’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin
Michael’s Website: https://drmichaellevin.org
Michael’s Papers:
Biological Robots: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00880
Synthetic Organisms: https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19420889.2021.2005863
Limb Regeneration: https://science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj2164

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– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00)– Introduction
(06:40)– Embryogenesis
(14:08)– Xenobots: biological robots
(27:55)– Sense of self
(37:27)– Multi-scale competency architecture
(48:58)– Free will
(58:27)– Bioelectricity
(1:11:44)– Planaria
(1:23:33)– Building xenobots
(1:47:08)– Unconventional cognition
(2:11:39)– Origin of evolution
(2:18:42)– Synthetic organisms
(2:25:27)– Regenerative medicine
(2:29:14)– Cancer suppression
(2:33:15)– Viruses
(2:38:28)– Cognitive light cones
(2:43:03)– Advice for young people
(2:47:47)– Death
(2:57:17)– Meaning of life