#849: Dr. Michael Levin — Reprogramming Bioelectricity, Updating "Software" for Anti-Aging, Treating Cancer Without Drugs, Cognition of Cells, and Much More

#849: Dr. Michael Levin — Reprogramming Bioelectricity, Updating "Software" for Anti-Aging, Treating Cancer Without Drugs, Cognition of Cells, and Much More

Dr. Michael Levin (@drmichaellevin) is the Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University and director of the Allen Discovery Center. He is primarily interested in how intelligence self-organizes in a diverse range of natural, engineered, and hybrid embodiments. Applied to the collective intelligence of cell groups undergoing morphogenesis, these ideas have allowed the Levin Lab to develop new applications in birth defects, organ regeneration, and cancer suppression.

This episode is brought to you by:

ShipStation shipping software: ShipStation.com/Tim

AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: DrinkAG1.com/Tim

Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan® Pro using nonstick technology that’s coating-free and made without PFAS, otherwise known as “forever chemicals”: FromOurPlace.com/Tim

TIMESTAMPS:

  • [00:00:00] Start
  • [00:03:18] The Body Electric: A Vancouver bookstore discovery that launched a career.
  • [00:04:19] Bioelectricity 101: Your brain uses it to think; your body used it before you had a brain.
  • [00:06:05] The lesson learned by scrambled tadpole faces that rearrange themselves.
  • [00:08:51] Software vs. hardware: The genome is your factory settings, not your destiny.
  • [00:11:43] Two-headed flatworms: Rewriting biological memory without touching DNA.
  • [00:16:20] Seeing memories: Voltage-sensitive dyes reveal the body’s hidden blueprints.
  • [00:20:12] Three killer apps for humans: Birth defects, regeneration, and cancer.
  • [00:24:27] Cancer as identity crisis: Cells forgetting they’re part of a team.
  • [00:25:40] The boredom theory of aging: Goal-seeking systems with nothing left to do.
  • [00:30:09] Planaria’s immortality hack: Rip yourself in half every two weeks.
  • [00:31:27] Manhattan Project for aging: Crack cellular cognition, everything else falls into place.
  • [00:33:47] Giving cells new goals: Convince a gut to become an eye.
  • [00:37:42] Must mammalian mortality be mandatory?
  • [00:40:25] Cross-pollination: Why biologists would benefit from programming courses.
  • [00:47:15] Does acupuncture actually do anything?
  • [00:50:57] Placebo as feature, not bug: Words and drugs share the same mechanism.
  • [00:55:06] The frame problem: Why robots explode and rats intuit what matters.
  • [00:59:41] Binary thinking is a trap: “Is it intelligent?” is the wrong question.
  • [01:07:46] Minimal brain, normal IQ: Clinical cases that break neuroscience.
  • [01:08:45] Super panpsychism: Your liver might have opinions.
  • [01:13:48] The Platonic space: Bodies as thin clients for patterns from elsewhere.
  • [01:15:24] Keep asking “why” and you end up in the math department.
  • [01:23:07] Polycomputing: Sorting algorithms secretly doing side quests.
  • [01:28:24] Power scaling for the future and avoiding red herrings for understanding machine minds.
  • [01:34:06] Sci-fi recommendations.
  • [01:37:24] Cliff Tabin’s toast and Dan Dennett’s steel manning.
  • [01:41:21] Parting thoughts.

*

For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.

For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors

Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.

For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.

Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.

Follow Tim:

Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss

Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss

YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss

Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(861)

#841: Arthur Brooks — Finding The Meaning of Your Life, The Poet's Protocol, The Holy Half-Hour, and Why Your Suffering is Sacred

#841: Arthur Brooks — Finding The Meaning of Your Life, The Poet's Protocol, The Holy Half-Hour, and Why Your Suffering is Sacred

Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. His next book, The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Pu...

23 Des 20252h 10min

#840: Bill Gurley — Investing in The AI Era, 10 Days in China, and Important Life Lessons from Bob Dylan, Jerry Seinfeld, MrBeast, and More

#840: Bill Gurley — Investing in The AI Era, 10 Days in China, and Important Life Lessons from Bob Dylan, Jerry Seinfeld, MrBeast, and More

Bill Gurley (@bgurley) is a general partner at Benchmark, a leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. His new book is Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love.This episo...

17 Des 20252h 10min

#839: Dr. Fei-Fei Li, The Godmother of AI — Asking Audacious Questions, Civilizational Technology, and Finding Your North Star

#839: Dr. Fei-Fei Li, The Godmother of AI — Asking Audacious Questions, Civilizational Technology, and Finding Your North Star

Dr. Fei-Fei Li (@drfeifei) is the inaugural Sequoia Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, a founding co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, and the co-fo...

9 Des 20251h 18min

#838: The Random Show — The 2–2–2 Rule, The Future of AI, Bioelectric Medicine, Surviving Modern Dating, The Promises of DORAs for Alzheimer’s, and Wisdom from Anthony de Mello

#838: The Random Show — The 2–2–2 Rule, The Future of AI, Bioelectric Medicine, Surviving Modern Dating, The Promises of DORAs for Alzheimer’s, and Wisdom from Anthony de Mello

Welcome to another wide-ranging "Random Show" episode that I recorded with my close friend Kevin Rose (digg.com)!This episode is brought to you by:Qlosi prescription eye drop used to treat age-related...

3 Des 20251h 51min

#837: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 — New Tips from Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck

#837: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 — New Tips from Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck

As we head into the new year, many of us feel like we’re drowning in invisible complexity. So I wanted to hit pause and ask a simple question: What are 1-3 decisions that could dramatically simplify m...

26 Nov 202532min

#836: The 4-Hour Workweek Principles — 13 Mistakes to Avoid, The Art of Mini-Retirements, and Navigating the Dizziness of Freedom

#836: The 4-Hour Workweek Principles — 13 Mistakes to Avoid, The Art of Mini-Retirements, and Navigating the Dizziness of Freedom

This time around, we have a bit of a different format, featuring the book that started it all for me, The 4-Hour Workweek. Readers and listeners often ask me what I would change or update, but an equa...

19 Nov 20251h 37min

#835: Ben Patrick (KneesOverToesGuy) — 20-Minute Workouts That Produce Wild Results, From Chronic Knee Pain to Dunking Basketballs, Lessons from Charles Poliquin, Bulletproofing the Lower Body, and More

#835: Ben Patrick (KneesOverToesGuy) — 20-Minute Workouts That Produce Wild Results, From Chronic Knee Pain to Dunking Basketballs, Lessons from Charles Poliquin, Bulletproofing the Lower Body, and More

Ben Patrick, better known as “Kneesovertoesguy” (@kneesovertoesguy), is the founder of Athletic Truth Group (ATG), an online and brick-and-mortar training system rooted in rehabilitative strength and ...

12 Nov 20251h 37min

#834: David Baszucki, Co-Founder of Roblox — The Path to 150M+ Daily Users, Critical Business Decisions, Ketogenic Therapy for Brain Health, Daily Routines, The Roblox Economy, and More

#834: David Baszucki, Co-Founder of Roblox — The Path to 150M+ Daily Users, Critical Business Decisions, Ketogenic Therapy for Brain Health, Daily Routines, The Roblox Economy, and More

David Baszucki is the founder and CEO of Roblox. TIME named Roblox one of the “100 Most Influential Companies,” and it has been recognized by Fast Company for innovation on their “Most Innovative Comp...

5 Nov 20251h 55min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
pengepodden-2
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
rss-sunn-okonomi
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
utbytte
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
liberal-halvtime
rss-politisk-preik
okonomiamatorene