Thoughtforms Life "The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist" by Michael Levin
This is a ~58 minute talk titled "The Embodied Mind of a New Robot Scientist: symmetries between AI and bioengineering the agential material of life and their impact on technology and on our future" which I gave as a closing Keynote to the ALIFE conference in Japan (https://2025.alife.org/). This is a different talk than any I've done before, in that besides going over the remarkable capacities of living material, I discuss 1) the symmetries between how all agents navigate their world and how science discoveries are made, and 2) a new robot scientist platform that we have created. With respect to the latter, I discuss how the body and mind of this new embodied AI can serve as a translation and integration layer between human scientists and living matter such as the cells which make up Xenobots.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Introduction and framework
(10:11) Towards anatomical compiler
(20:16) Anatomical intelligence and bioelectricity
(29:10) Rewriting morphological goals
(36:08) Xenobots and anthrobots
(45:02) MomBot robotic scientist
(51:24) Future directions and thanks
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Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5
Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin
Blog: https://thoughtforms.life
The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org