MIT Scientist on Unifying Cognition and Biology | Manolis Kellis

In today’s episode, MIT computational biologist Manolis Kellis dive into the hidden patterns linking DNA, evolution, and cognition, exploring a potential unifying theory that bridges biology, AI, and the essence of life.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
02:05 - The Scope of Biological Unification
06:02 - Biology vs. Physics
09:31 - DNA as Life’s Language
13:45 - The Universal Compatibility of DNA
16:55 - Evolutionary Trade-Offs and Isolation
20:17 - Layers of Abstraction in Biology
24:51 - Beyond DNA: The Role of Histones
30:30 - Protein Folding and Function
35:26 - How Cells Interpret DNA Signals
40:24 - The Creativity of Language and Miscommunication
44:55 - Teaching and Simplification
51:09 - Evolution of Cognition and Centralized Decision-Making
57:35 - Vertical vs. Horizontal Evolution
1:04:20 - Specialization and Society’s Role in Evolution
1:08:50 - The Future of Biological Understanding

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[aloelcristal]

Curt, thank you so much for this interview (and others as well), I absolutely loved it! It is so incredibly stimulating and enjoyable listening to two super intelligent human beings freely exchanging their visions and understandings... Manolis seems to be a very deep, humble and talented person, who does his own thinking, which is not often seen...

[NozaOz]

I keep going back and forth between this conversation and the one with Ian McGilchrist. This channel is incredible and I have absolutely no idea how there are not more views on some of these interviews. Seriously awesome

[Williamwilliam]

Omg finally some much needed biochemistry has made it into the philosophy YouTube scene. Now we can all see why quantum consciousness is not taken seriously

[litaozhang]

What a beautiful way to understand the complicity of the world from the very basic level to the very top through patterns and meanings! So profound and poetic! I hope more people can adopt his approach to life which helps to advance our consciousness.

[daystobe]

Curt doesn't interview his guests. He has a back and forth conversation where he and the guest are both expanding their knowledge as us listeners are also. They actually talk about how language and the effort we make to understand each other's words expands each person's knowledge.

[flflflflflfl]

Please get Federico Faggin and/or Iain McGilchrist on, I would really love to hear their takes on this theory! This is a fantastic episode, by the way, thank you!

[iamkata]

hope holistic healthcare will arrive as an accessible resource for all. i wish things changed faster and toward a greater good without the resistance of fear. im glad manolis is helping to create/pattern/map the constellations. thank you curt for your continue pursuit of meaningful work

[debyton]

I suppose people can be forgiven for expecting that the deep realizations will come from the most highly bonafide, accredited, and recognized among us, but history tells a different story.

[litaozhang]

What an enlightening conversation! Thank you

[MatthewAndrews-hhmn]

This has been so informative and helpful to me. Ive been working on a novel Genetic Algorithm that evolves and makes use of abstractions. It’s amazing to me how well this aligns with the principals outlined here.

[sukratu]

Lovely, not just very educative! Enjoyed it!

[baraskparas]

A molecular natural selection formula with a worked example for ATP is available in a new book published by Austin Macauley Publishers titled From Chemistry to Life on Earth which outlines abiogenesis in great detail with a solution to the evolution of the genetic code and the ribosome as well as the cell in general using 290 references, 50 illustrations and several information tables . At least 43 different biochemical processes that feed back on DNA to control gene expression and hence phenotype are listed with a description of how they work.

[etyrnal]

I love how he just throws around the expression re-cognition without acknowledging how careless he's been in terminology.
. considering he's suggesting that DNA has cognition if we're talking about one molecule re...cognizing another molecule.

[frankgaertner]

I love his description of the interaction of new ideas that happen when one is teaching in an academic setting doing one’s own research. This far-reaching conversation on biology vs physics is a perfect addition fo any new teaching science book. In my own series called “Our Self Assembling Universe” we now dig deeply into “ The Hard Problem”. My reference in it to this video will be in AWTBook style and look like this: YouTube “MIT Scientist on Unifying Cognition and Biology | Manolis Kellis”, Theories of Everything (1:58:50).

[amyk.budzinski]

Thank you, Curt! Thank you, Dr. Kellis! What an amazing opportunity we have to share this planet with you!

[GlenSwartwout]

His idea of modular pills for different fundamental pathways is the concept behind my Functional Formulations.

[LoganNye-CMU]

Manolis is a great man, glad we have him working on important problems

[mantasr]

Biology is the lawless intersting changeable and evolving application of physics.
I love it for that

[NicholasWilliams-ukxu]

Wow that's good descriptive explanations.

[helcacke]

Synergistic computation and convolutional layers are cool. I do think that physics needs to get more scientific to fit with other sciences. Great talk.