Surveying Diverse Definitions of Life

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/demystifysci

PARADIGM DRIFT

https://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show

HOMEBREW 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-here

Streaming:

https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-here

00:00 Go!

00:05:11 Exploring the Origins and Definitions of Life

00:11:30 The Complexity of Defining Life

00:14:30 The Limitations of Scientific Categories

00:17:58 Re-evaluating Life and Cognition

00:19:40 Theoretical Perspectives on Life

00:20:08 The Spectrum of Cognition and the Re-enchantment of Nature

00:24:09 Experimental Approaches to Understanding Cognition in Networks

00:30:14 Feedback Loops in Learning and Causal Emergence

00:35:34 The Role of Chemical Interactions in the Origins of Life

00:39:27 Discussion on Learning and Molecular Networks

00:41:35 The Nature of Complexity and Consciousness

00:45:04 Science and the Crisis of Meaning

00:49:34 Expanding Compassion in Understanding Life

00:54:13 Methodology of Chemical Experimentation

00:58:53 Analysis at Different System Levels

01:01:56 Causal Powers of Networks

01:04:31 Collective Intelligence in Biological Systems

#cognition, #bioelectric, #emergent , #complexsystems, #neuroscience, #regenerativemedicine , #origins, #philosophypodcast , #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast

MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/

AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98

DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD

SUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci

RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss

MAILING 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/DemystifySci

MUSIC:

-Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671