Skip to content
Rounds
0:00 / 0:00

Michael Levin: Biology, Life, Aliens, Evolution, Embryogenesis & Xenobots | Lex Fridman Podcast #325

Lex Fridman

5M subscribers • 4 videos on Rounds

YouTube
  • Recommended by 3 people, in Hacker News, across 2 different months.
  • Presented by Michael Levin, biologist at Tufts University, as the video describes them
  • The description links 3 papers.
  • Debated among experts. Its central claim is contested, so look for the other side.

Assumes interest and some biology. Education, not medical advice.

5.7M views4 years ago3 recommendations

How the body worksCancerCells and moleculesCancer biologyPhysiology

Michael Levin discusses bioelectricity, cell intelligence, embryogenesis, and novel ways to understand and control pattern formation in biological systems.

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: - Henson Shaving: hensonshaving.com/lex and use code LEX to get 100 free blades with your razor - Eight Sleep: eightsleep.com/lex to get special savings - LMNT: drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack - InsideTracker: insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off EPISODE LINKS: Michael's Twitter: twitter.com/drmichaellevin Michael's Website: drmichaellevin.org Michael's Papers: Biological Robots: arxiv.org/abs/2207.00880 Synthetic Organisms: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19420889.2021.2005863 Limb Regeneration: science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj2164 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/42reDLEDzQicUmzmDpXjYK RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: - Introduction - Embryogenesis - Xenobots: biological robots - Sense of self - Multi-scale competency architecture - Free will - Bioelectricity - Planaria - Building xenobots - Unconventional cognition - Origin of evolution - Synthetic organisms - Regenerative medicine - Cancer suppression - Viruses - Cognitive light cones - Advice for young people - Death - Meaning of life SOCIAL: - Twitter: twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: facebook.com/lexfridman - Instagram: instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: medium.com/@lexfridman - Reddit: reddit.com/r/lexfridman - Support on Patreon: patreon.com/lexfridman

Why it's here

3 people recommend this, 1 disputes it

What people say. Recommended for its fascinating perspective on bioelectricity and cell intelligence, though some of his claims on cancer are considered outlandish.

nikiviin Hacker News • Recommends

On “A Universal Cancer Treatment?”

I loved Michael Levin's thoughts on solving cancer. Kind of similar to immunotherapy but on a level of reprogramming the cells back that got 'lost' from their big purpose in their organ. link to this video
View on Hacker News

tux1968in Hacker News • Recommends

On “Intelligence Beyond the Brain [video]”

Michael Levin recently appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast*, and here he goes over much of the same amazing material, but along with a visual presentation. * Michael Levin: Biology, Life, Aliens, Evolution, Embryogenesis & Xenobots | Lex Fridman link to this video
View on Hacker News

ruffreyin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Is the emergence of life an expected phase transition in the evolving universe?”

Related, lately I have been enthralled with the work of Michael Levin at Tufts. He studies things like goal directed behavior of cells and systems of cells. Here is an intro to his work: link to this video
View on Hacker News

JPLeRouzicin Hacker News • Disputes

On “Intelligence Beyond the Brain [video]”

There are many submissions of videos of Michael Levin on HN. Levin's claims are certainly extremely interesting, I want to know more about that stuff, but some claims are outlandish like "how to cure cancer" 0 or about alien bots 1. Yet I wonder why he did not do research on mice? 0 link 1 link to this video
View on Hacker News

DonHopkinsin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?”

That's one of my long time interests and hobbies, which I write about on HN and discuss with other people frequently. I'm supposed to be doing something else right now so I'll quickly drop a few disorganized quotes and links here. (Sorry I didn't have time to be more concise!) A few years ago I ran across Max Bittker's beautiful "Sandspiel", which is a delightful cellular automata toy that simulates sand and other rules: link A few days ago I saw him tweet some amazing stuff that resonated with me, which then led me to discover what he's been working with Lu Wilson (TodePond): Sandspiel Studio -- user definable rules using a block based visual programming language. link "working on goth…
View on Hacker News

DonHopkinsin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Making Sandspiel”

I am a huge fan of Sandspiel, which Max described in this article from 2019, and recently I was delighted to discover that he and TodePond have been doing a huge amount of wonderful work since then. What happens when you combine Sandspiel with a Scratch-like blocks based visual programming language that lets you look inside and see how rules work, tweak and modify them, and even define your own rules for different types of particles? And then form a community around it for sharing Here is Max's and TodePond's brilliantly ambitious visually programmable sequel, Sandspiel Studio! link Here's my profile, where you can play with the version of Max's flower growing rule that he shows here: [lin…
View on Hacker News

DonnyVin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Consciousness Might Hide in Our Brain's Electric Fields”

Michael Levin has been doing research activating certain types of cell growth based on certain field frequencies. I wonder if this ties together. link to this video I wonder if neurons are actually the hard drive and ephaptic fields are the software or network the software runs on.
View on Hacker News

simmanianin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Electricity can heal wounds three times as fast (2023)”

The article and the comments remind me of Michael Levin's work on bioelectricity. 20 min ted talk - link 3 hr lex fridman episode - link to this video
View on Hacker News

stevenjgarnerin Hacker News • Mentions

On “We Were Wrong About Our Minds–and AI”

Michael Levin’s research fundamentally challenges the traditional biological view that intelligence is exclusive to the brain, proposing instead that "mind" and agency are distributed throughout all levels of biological organization. By studying how cellular collectives communicate via bioelectric networks, Levin demonstrates that cells cooperate toward a specific "target morphology," or anatomical goal, independent of a fixed genetic blueprint. This is most vividly illustrated by the creation of Xenobots—synthetic lifeforms made from frog skin cells that spontaneously reorganize into new organisms with novel behaviors, such as kinematic self-replication. This "scale-free cognition" suggests…
View on Hacker News