4. How Do We Define an "Individual?"
from The Expanding Brain Podcast Hosted by Akshata
What makes something an "individual" in biology? It's easy to think of an organism or a single cell as an individual, we can even consider a gene as an individual. What about a virus? A bacterial colony? A symbiotic system? An ecosystem? Christian and Akshata discuss how a recent study uses information theory and mathematics to define individuality in a more fundamental way, and the problems and implications of a new definition like this. For example, are hurricanes and political movements individuals? Join us as we expand our brains to think about a new, more dynamic way of answering the question, "What is an Individual?" Sources Quanta Article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-an-individual-biology-seeks-clues-in-information-theory-20200716/ Study: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12064-020-00313-7.pdf Friston's Study: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2013.0475 Follow The Expanding Brain Podcast on twitter: https://twitter.com/brain_expanding Akshata's Twitter is https://twitter.com/artbyakshata Christian's is https://twitter.com/blkWittgenstein Shownotes can be found at: https://workbyakshata.wordpress.com/2021/10/01/5-how-do-we-define-an-individual-show-notes/
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