Jessica Riskin
Historian of science and professor at Stanford University known for work on the history of biology and authorship of books such as The Restless Clock and The Power of Life.
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Mar 23, 2026 • 1h 15min
348 | Jessica Riskin on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Life as Creative Agency
Jessica Riskin, Stanford historian of science known for The Restless Clock, traces Jean‑Baptiste Lamarck’s vision of organisms as creatively active agents. The conversation explores machine metaphors versus self-making life, Lamarck’s life and reception, links between his ideas and modern concepts like epigenetics and niche construction, and the cultural forces that shaped evolutionary thought.
