Biology Is Cognition The Whole Way Down! Best of Giant's Shoulder 2025

I've condensed the best moments from a year of Giant
conversations with scientists such as Michael Levin, Terrence
Deacon, Anna Ciaunica and more on Diverse Intelligence and
multi-scale cognitive biology.


We explore the radical idea that biology itself is cognitive, all
the way down, and that intelligence, agency, and problem-solving
did not suddenly appear with brains but emerged gradually across
evolution. Its the most incredible idea in modern biology. Are
cells themselves intelligent or even conscious? Is cognition best
understood as a spectrum rather than a category? Do xenobots,
organoids, and tissues without brains possess goals, preferences,
and problem-solving abilities? And what happens to our ethical
frameworks if minds exist far beyond animals and humans?


Timestamps:


00:48 Michael Levin: “Cells were doing advanced behaviours we
could NOT have predicted!”


32:42 Philip Ball Meet The Man Who Grew Mini Brains From His Own
Skin Cells


43:24 Anna Ciaunica Biology is Cognition The Whole Way Down


54:00 Individual Cells Are Conscious And Intelligent William
Miller


01:08:31 How Many Times Has The Brain Evolved Independantly?
Terrence Deacon





Full Length Episodes


1) Meet the Scientist Creating New Forms of Synthetic Life! Dr
Michael Levin - https://youtu.be/LTBZRVKUwyM


2) Philip Ball: Why Quantum Mechanics is NOT What you think,
Consciousness, Brain Organoids, AI & Life! -
https://youtu.be/nNbG5lnp51E


3) Meet the Scientist Proving Your Whole Body is Conscious! -
https://youtu.be/GCnz1e54GBI


4) Meet the Scientist Showing Every Cell In Your Body is
Conscious! - https://youtu.be/eNi-_2cOVtc


5) Meet the Scientist Exploring Consciousness Through
Thermodynamics! - https://youtu.be/sl79x5yti2g





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