Episode
Slugs Have Memories. Nikolay Kukushkin - #539
- Published
- Feb 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4907
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Summary
Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 What can we truly learn about the brain from a kidney cell? And what do aliens and alien-like limbs have to teach us? And if language is our escape velocity moment, what does that mean for the future of AI? Nikolay Kukushkin is a scientist who believes that memory, intelligence, and even the roots of awareness may exist in places we never thought to look in. The timing of molecules in the learning of single cells, in the slow abstractions of evolution. He takes us through all of this in this wonderful new book, One Hand Clapping. Now let's go into the impossible. KEY TAKEAWAYS 00:00 "Sea Slugs and Abstract Thought" 09:55 "Cell Intelligence and Sound" 10:47 Cellular Intelligence and Memory 19:22 "One Hand Clapping: Zen Riddle" 23:18 "Evolution of Inner Worlds" 31:05 "Einstein, Thought Experiments, and LLMs" 32:50 "Can LLMs Achieve Life?" 38:01 Alien Encounters: Unlikely Similarity 45:39 Unanticipated Findings on Cellular Memory 53:33 "Interdisciplinary Creativity and Slow Multitasking" 55:58 Evolution of the Gut 01:04:57 "Interconnection and Existential Koan" 01:08:19 "Reconstructing Nature's Patterns" 01:13:55 "Evolution of Brain's Role" - Additional resources: Get My NEW Book: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100 Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World…