Episode
#127 Meet the Neuroscientist Who Gave A Brain to Michael Levins Xenobot’s
- Podcast
- Giants Shoulder
- Published
- Jun 8, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4216
- Processing state
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Summary
Get One Month Free of Consensus (The Best Ai Science Tool): https://get.consensus.app/we00d2cmjpqe Upgrade Your Shaving Experience With Henson (100 FREE BLADES): https://hensonshaving.com/thegiantsshoulder Want a full breakdown of your own conscious inner experience? Join the Giant's Shoulder community: https://www.skool.com/the-giants-shoulder-6526/about Haleh Fotowat is a neuroscientist who builds nervous systems from scratch — the scientist who gave neurons to Michael Levin's xenobots, the living robots made from frog cells. When those neurons self-organised into a working nervous system, they switched on genes for eyes, in a creature that has never had eyes and never existed in nature. Expect to learn how a clump of frog skin cells becomes a moving biological robot, why these cells secretly default to becoming neurons unless their neighbours stop them, what happened when the neurons grew axons and reached out for the body, why every neurobot develops its own movement personality, how a brainless blob forces you to redefine agency and goals, why the neurons switched on genes for eyes despite having none, what a seizure drug revealed about which biobots truly have nervous systems, what might happen if you gave the neurobots DMT, and much more … Timestamps 0:00:00 Trailer 0:02:05 What Is a Neurobot? 0:02:39 Building a Living Robot From Frog Cells 0:08:46 Why These Cells Secretly Want to Be Neurons 0:10:48 What's the Point of This Research? 0:16:26 Brain Cells in a Dish Playing Doom 0:18:16 A Warehouse Full of Human Neurons 0:19:16 What Happened When the Neurons Grew 0:21:36 The Neurons Reached Out for the Body 0:25:51 Why Each Neurobot Has Its Own Personality 0:28:51 Can a Blob of Neurons Have Goals? 0:39:42 Braitenberg's Vehicles: Complexity From Simplicity 0:42:25 B…