How Collective Intelligence Will Rewrite Evolutionary Theory - Dr. J. Scott Turner, SUNY-ESF, DSPod 202

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https://bit.ly/3lcAasB Dr. J. Scott Turner is a physiologist who
has contributed extensively to our understanding of collective
intelligence through his work on the behavior of mound building
termites. Early in his career he realized that the the textbook
explanation for the mounds - that they contributed to temperature
regulation of the underlying colony - were woefully incomplete.
Through his work, Turner was able to demonstrate that the mounds
were actually an integral part of the physiological success of
the termites - rather than being a temperature regulating
mechanism, the mounds acted as an external lung that was built
and maintained by the colony for the express purposes of air
filtration and circulation. Downstream of this realization,
Turner developed a theory that suggests Darwinism alone - in
context of survival of the fittest as the sole driver of the
diversity of life - was an incomplete representation of the
dynamics of life. We talk about the details of how to rewrite
Darwin with a greater emphasis on epigenetics, collective
intelligence, and the innate drive of purpose that is particular
to life. (00:00:00)


Go! (00:00:17)


The man behind the termites


(00:01:44)


Remaining mysteries of evolutionary theory


(00:06:01)


When things don't add up


(00:12:47)


The ingenuity of termite mounds


(00:25:11)


Biology as a PID controller


(00:29:56)


Desire can't emerge from genes alone


(00:35:54)


Origins of Life


(00:38:09)


Origin of Life vs Origin of Cells


(00:43:31)


The struggle to exist is an inherent part of life


(00:49:36)


Crystal structure of life


(00:57:29)


Organisms are defined through communion & community


(01:16:21)


Our function in the superorganism


(01:23:19)


A teleology of life?


(01:28:50)


Recursive degradation of information


(01:38:43)


Purpose and desire as fundamental grounds of biology


(01:57:39)


Searching for gold on the fringe


(02:07:28)


The endless churn of ideas


(02:20:19)


Stand ins for superstitious forces


(02:29:01)


Willful intelligence of superorganisms


(02:32:18)


Tuning the algorithm that turns rocks into life


(02:36:50)


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did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of
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