151 - Michael Levin: Synthetic Life, Collective Intelligence, and Morphogenesis
Oct 8, 2023
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Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor at Tufts University and associated with Wyss Institute at Harvard, discusses collective intelligence, morphogenesis, and the concept of synthetic life. They explore problem-solving abilities of slime molds, the intelligence of planarians, and the potential of synthetic life including xenobots.
Morphogenesis plays a crucial role in shaping and developing organisms by determining the form and structure based on collective decisions and problem-solving abilities of cells.
Chimeras offer insights into how different sets of cells interact and determine the final structure of the organism, highlighting the importance of studying morphogenesis.
Communication between cells involves both molecular and bioelectric signaling, but understanding higher-level aspects of collective decision-making requires broader tools beyond molecular biology.
Organisms without brains, such as slime molds, demonstrate intelligence and problem-solving abilities by navigating various spaces and achieving goal-oriented behavior, challenging traditional notions of intelligence.
Deep dives
Morphogenesis and cognition
Morphogenesis refers to the process of shaping and structuring a developing organism, such as how cells arrange themselves to form complex anatomical structures. It is the link between the genetic instructions encoded in DNA and the observable characteristics, or phenotype, of an organism. The process of morphogenesis plays a crucial role in determining the form and structure of living organisms. However, our understanding of morphogenesis is still limited, and there are many unanswered questions about how cells make collective decisions and solve problems during this process. The ability to navigate the anatomical morphospace and make decisions at various scales is a key aspect of morphogenesis. This highlights the importance of studying the collective intelligence and problem-solving abilities of cells in shaping and developing organisms.
Chimeras and the Complexity of Morphogenesis
Chimeras, such as the Froggolotl, are organisms composed of cells from different species or genetic origins. Creating chimeras involves mixing cells from different embryos and allowing them to interact and sort themselves out. This process raises questions about how different sets of cells interact and decide which anatomical features to develop. The genetic information from each set of cells is present, but understanding how they interact and determine the final outcome is a complex challenge. Morphogenesis, the ability to navigate and shape anatomical space, plays a crucial role in determining the phenotypic outcomes of chimeras. However, our current knowledge of morphogenesis is limited, and there is still much to learn about how chimeras develop and how different sets of cells contribute to the final structure of the organism.
The Role of Communication in Collective Intelligence
Understanding communication between cells is a critical aspect of studying collective intelligence and morphogenesis. Cells communicate through chemical and physical signals, but communication alone does not fully explain the complex decision-making and problem-solving abilities of cell collectives. In addition to molecular signaling, bioelectric signaling has emerged as an important mode of communication between cells. Bioelectric networks are involved in coordinating cell behaviors, controlling tissue patterning, and influencing morphogenesis. While understanding cell communication is important, comprehending the higher-level aspects of collective decision-making, such as memory, preferences, goals, and competencies, requires a broader set of tools beyond molecular biology. Further research is needed to unravel the complexities of cell communication and the role it plays in the development and functionality of cell collectives.
The Challenges of Defining Life
Defining life presents a complex challenge, and there is ongoing debate about its boundaries and characteristics. Life is not easily pinned down to a single definition, and it is difficult to determine what separates living organisms from non-living matter. While some traditional aspects, such as reproduction and metabolism, have been considered defining features of life, modern understanding highlights the importance of emergent properties, complex organization, and the ability to solve problems and adapt to environments, which are relevant to both morphogenesis and collective intelligence. However, the question of defining life is not the primary focus of research in understanding morphogenesis and collective intelligence. Rather, researchers concentrate on unraveling the mechanisms and processes that underlie these phenomena and exploring the cognitive aspects of decision-making and problem-solving in cell collectives.
The Competencies of Organisms without Brains
Organisms without brains, such as cells, can exhibit cognition and problem-solving abilities by navigating various spaces, including metabolic, physiological, and morphological state spaces. They can achieve goal-oriented behavior and exhibit competencies to reach specific goals, even in the absence of a brain or muscles. Examples like slime molds and molecular networks demonstrate intelligence without traditional brain structures. These organisms display an adaptive and goal-seeking behavior that goes beyond mere emergence and complexity.
Navigating Spaces: The Case of Slime Mold
Slime molds, lacking a brain or muscles, solve problems related to self-repair, feeding, and waste disposal. Through a clever mechanism, they can detect the presence of objects in their environment by gently pulsing and tugging on the medium they reside in, analyzing the strain angle. By collecting and processing this data, slime molds can navigate and make decisions based on the specific goals they aim to achieve.
Implications for Understanding Intelligence
The study of organisms without brains challenges traditional notions of intelligence. It suggests that cognitive abilities and problem-solving can arise from various competencies in different spaces. This challenges the notion that intelligence is solely tied to brain structures and highlights the need to explore unconventional spaces for understanding cognition. Organisms like slime molds and xenobots offer novel insights into the complexity and adaptability of life and can serve as testbeds for understanding the rules of morphogenesis and guiding future innovations in synthetic life.
Michael Levin is a Distinguished Professor in the Biology Department at Tufts University, where he holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair, and he is also associate faculty at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Michael and the Levin Lab work at the intersection of biology, artificial life, bioengineering, synthetic morphology, and cognitive science. In this episode, Michael and Robinson discuss what it means—if anything determinate—to be intelligent and to be alive before turning to the various fascinating ways collective intelligence arises at all levels of the spectrum, from microbes to synthetic chimaeras, which all adaptively solve complex problems using sophisticated cognition.
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org/
OUTLINE
00:00 In This Episode…
00:55 Introduction
03:38 Michael’s Research Program
05:48 What Is Intelligence?
23:26 Does It Mean Anything to be Alive?
34:50 What Is Morphogenesis?
53:20 Slime Molds, Exploding Planaria Brains, and Intercellular Communication
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.
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