Meet The Scientist Who Created The First Living Robot

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Get 1 Month Free of ConsensusAi: https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqe Mind Labs Pro Scientifically Rigorous Supplements: https://www.mindlabpro.com/?a_aid=67fd1cb8d9ad3&a_bid=6d45f5c3 Dr. Josh Bongard is a computer scientist, roboticist, and co-creator of Xenobots — the world’s first living robots made from frog cells, capable of movement, healing, and even self-replication. Together with biologist Michael Levin, Bongard’s work is upending some of biology’s most sacred assumptions: that DNA is a blueprint, that the brain is the seat of intelligence, and that only neurons can think. In his lab at the University of Vermont, he’s building AI-designed organisms that challenge our understanding of life, agency, intelligence, and what it means to be a self. Expect to learn how a pile of skin cells assembled itself into a replicating robot, why biology may be cognitive all the way down, how AI is learning to design living systems from scratch, why memory and learning might emerge in systems without brains, why the illusion of consciousness could be evolution’s greatest trick, how Xenobots are influencing the future of robotics and synthetic life, what moral standing these beings might eventually require, and why your high school biology textbook may have gotten almost everything wrong… Timestamps: 00:00 The Birth of Xenobots 03:08 Understanding Xenobots: Science and Implications 05:57 Cognition and Intelligence: A New Perspective 08:53 Defining Consciousness and Self-Awareness 12:09 Memory and Learning in Xenobots 14:46 The Nature of Experience and Reality 18:00 Exploring Agency and Adaptation 20:52 The Future of Xenobots and Robotics 28:10 The Evolution of Robotics: Learning from Biology 30:21 Human-Like Adaptability in Robots 33:10 Xenobots: The Future of Self-Replication 37:38 Understanding Agency in Xenobots 40:47 The Challenge of Defining Agency 43:35 Ethical Considerations of Xenobots 45:07 AI and the Future of Biological Robotics 47:43 The Role of AI in Understanding Biology 52:05 The Potential of AI in Biological Discoveries 55:15 The Moral Implications of Synthetic Life 01:00:01 Future of Food and Ethical Eating ... Email for sponsorship enquiries: evan@thegiantsshoulder.com Episodes Mentioned: Challenging a Famous Neuroscientist On When Consciousness First Emerged: https://youtu.be/ZnasmLpY5_8 Meet the Scientist Who Mathematically Proved Reality is an Illusion! Round 2: https://youtu.be/kTKE8eLo8CU Philip Ball: Why Quantum Mechanics is NOT What you think, Consciousness, Brain Organoids, AI & Life!: https://youtu.be/nNbG5lnp51E ❤️ Subscribe to our main channel - https://www.youtube.com/@thegiantsshoulder?sub_confirmation=1 💚 Follow on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=Ka2rAQv7TyqiC9wvGwERpA 💜 Follow on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-giants-shoulder/id1752486249 Download my FREE EBook 26 Neuroscience Books for 2026 HERE: https://thegiantsshoulder.com/