#60 The Slime Mold "Intelligence" Illusion, Artificial Life and Why De-Extinction Is Mostly Marketing!

Jon Perry is a science animator and educator, creator of Stated Clearly — the YouTube channel that turns messy biology into crisp, visual explanations, with more than fifty million views and a devoted audience of curious skeptics.

StatedClearly Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@StatedClearly

Jon’s mission is simple and radical: fix our definitions. When we call cells “intelligent,” or label xenobots “robots,” we smuggle minds into places they don’t belong. From a slime-mold maze rebuilt with LEGO and gravity to de-extinction hype and NASA’s search for life, Jon shows how precise language changes the experiments we run, the technologies we build, and the stories we tell about nature.

Jon's original slime mold video: https://youtu.be/2Thytf95wGU?si=_K1YDwL8TbrF4YQ8

Expect to learn why slime-mold “maze solving” might not be evidence of cognition, how simple physics can mimic problem-solving, the crucial difference between adaptation, learning, and intelligence, why some definitions would make tap water look smart, how to test for learning without minds, what xenobots really are (and aren’t), why “de-extinction” is mostly marketing, how NASA’s definition of life misled search strategies, how operational definitions steer funding and ethics, and how getting the words right can reboot entire fields of biology.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:30 Michael Levin Slime Mold Debate

05:20 Intelligence vs. Instinct

08:20 The Role of Language in Science

11:12 Rethinking Intelligence as a Spectrum

14:05 Xenobots and Anthrobots: A New Frontier

17:25 Defining Life: The Challenge of Boundaries

20:10 Observational Science vs. Hypothesis Testing

39:59 Exploring Bioelectricity and Cell Behavior

43:49 The Impact of Michael Levin's Research

48:34 Understanding Gene Expression in Cells

55:51 The Emergence of Adaptive Behaviors in Cells

01:03:17 Ethical Considerations in Synthetic Life

01:03:48 The Controversy of De-Extinction and Colossal Biosciences

01:10:16 The Science of De-Extinction

01:13:03 Genetic Editing and Its Implications

01:18:58 The Marketing of De-Extinction

01:24:55 The Reality of Recreating Extinct Species

01:30:39 Future of Genetic Research and Funding

01:35:48 Funding Science: Challenges and Opportunities

01:45:27 The Future of Gene Editing and Ethical Considerations

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