This episode is with Enrico Coen. He is a plant biologist and geneticist at John Innes Centre. Enrico's work has focused on unraveling the intricate genetic and molecular mechanisms that govern the formation and growth of plants. He is the author of two books, namely, 'Cells to civilizations' and 'Art of genes'.

In this conversation we talk about major transitions in biology, emergence of complexity, evolution of life, drivers of evolution, evolution of brains, Intelligence and science.

Guest info: Website: https://www.jic.ac.uk/people/enrico-coen/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/InnerWorlds1 Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Enrico-Coen/author/B001HCV4C8?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Episode links: Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/cells-to-civilizations-with-enrico-coen Youtube: https://youtu.be/_20Tko5_Xho?si=RiEHhpaOlgaBGjil Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/13MfRZ6EGFPW05osKeWUfW?si=QT-HPrXXR5OiCwHM07AxiQ Apple podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/reason-with-science/407cd478-4271-4319-8318-fc378d4e7ccb/episode/cells-to-civilizations-with-enrico-coen-%7C-reason-with-science-%7C-evolution-%7C-science-%7C-culture/c2fa8dec-cefa-4b2a-9498-56d67e12b08c Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZjQ1Y2FlNWEtNWJiZS00MGVmLWJkZGMtOWM2ZGZiZjBjMjVh?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjI1ZGbl5CBAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:01:04 Major transformations of life 

00:14:12 What is science and how it works? 

00:16:22 Can science help us to study fundamental nature of reality? 

00:30:07 Do we need an absolutist view of science? 

00:37:14 What are the commonalities between evolution, development, culture and learning? 

00:44:32 Role of parasites in the evolution of life 

00:47:49 Survival of the fittest 

00:53:07 Natural selection at the level of replicators 

00:58:46 Level at which evolution works (genes or cells) 

01:09:47 Concept of memes 

01:16:00 Why religion has been successful? 

01:25:45 Crucial elements of scientific method 

01:32:50 Importance of self-doubt 

01:36:10 Covid-19 pandemic and science 

01:40:00 Science and art 

01:48:09 Future writing 

01:50:12 Thank you!