Will & Meaning in Living Beings - Dr. Michael Levin, Tufts University

Michael Levin is the Vannevar Bush Chair of the Biology department and director the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts University who is focused on understanding the cellular motivations that govern biological systems. In other words, why do cells create the bodies that they do, and what are the environmental conditions that need to change in order to rewire the bodies that these cells will make? The successes of his work, including permanently altered body plants in planarian flatworms and synthetic bodies from frog skin cells, have significantly challenged our limited perspectives about the extent to which biological systems have wants and needs that can only be satisfied through the fulfillment of an inherent program. We talk new perspectives on the nature of bodies, teleophobia, the game of life, and much more. Support the scientific revolution by joining our Patreon: https://bit.ly/3lcAasB Tell us what you think in the comments or on our Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub (00:00:00) Go! (00:03:27) Impacts vs Aspiration (00:06:10) Theory vs Application (00:09:17) Philosophy vs Technology (00:18:32) Teleophobia (00:28:49) A meaningful universe (00:35:50) Idealism vs Materialism (00:39:44) Game of Life (00:43:03) Reductionism (00:49:46) Life & Death of Garage Science (01:00:15) Reciprocity of Will and Shape (01:09:25) What is human that's worth preserving & AGI (01:32:43) Is intelligence a useful notion? (01:41:16) Audience Questions #syntheticbiology #regenerativemedicine #teleophobia Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Michael Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671