Where Biology Goes Off the Rails - Dr. Michael Levin, DemystifySci #369
Where Biology Goes Off the Rails - Dr. Michael Levin, DemystifySci #369  
Podcast: The DemystifySci Podcast
Published On: Fri Oct 03 2025
Description: Michael Levin is a synthetic biologist at Tufts University who believes that asking questions about “life” is a fruitless project. Instead, he argues that we ought to be trying to understand the emergence of cognition - a feature that he believes appears long before cells emerge. As part of this project, Levin has started to pull on a series of threads woven through the origin of life debate that seem to show basic elements of thinking systems - habituation, sensitization, conditioning - can be found in simple physical networks. We dig into how these systems work, what they reveal about life, and how his approach to understanding nature resolves a lot of biological paradoxes.PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciPARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-showHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-here00:00 Go! 00:05:11 Exploring the Origins and Definitions of Life00:11:30 The Complexity of Defining Life00:14:30 The Limitations of Scientific Categories00:17:58 Re-evaluating Life and Cognition00:19:40 Theoretical Perspectives on Life00:20:08 The Spectrum of Cognition and the Re-enchantment of Nature00:24:09 Experimental Approaches to Understanding Cognition in Networks00:30:14 Feedback Loops in Learning and Causal Emergence00:35:34 The Role of Chemical Interactions in the Origins of Life00:39:27 Discussion on Learning and Molecular Networks00:41:35 The Nature of Complexity and Consciousness00:45:04 Science and the Crisis of Meaning00:49:34 Expanding Compassion in Understanding Life00:54:13 Methodology of Chemical Experimentation00:58:53 Analysis at Different System Levels01:01:56 Causal Powers of Networks01:04:31 Collective Intelligence in Biological Systems#cognition, #bioelectric, #emergent , #complexsystems, #neuroscience, #regenerativemedicine , #origins, #philosophypodcast , #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcastMERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671