Josh Bongard is the Veinott Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont and director of the Morphology, Evolution & Cognition Laboratory. His work involves automated design and manufacture of soft-, evolved-, and crowdsourced robots, as well as computer-designed organisms. A PECASE, TR35, and Cozzarelli Prize recipient, he has received funding from NSF, NASA, DARPA, ARO and the Sloan Foundation. He is the co-author of the book How The Body Shapes the Way we Think, the instructor of a reddit-based evolutionary robotics MOOC, and director of the robotics outreach program Twitch Plays Robotics. Summary Josh Bongard, a professor and roboticist, discusses the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology, particularly through the development of Xenobots. He describes embodied intelligence and the the emergence of physical intelligence in machines, as well as the ethical implications of AI and robotics. Bongard emphasizes the importance of understanding intelligence as a collective experience rather than an individual one, and he shares insights on the future of autonomous machines and the role of curiosity in AI development. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Josh Bongard and His Work 02:37 The Evolution of Robotics and Biological Systems 05:41 Embodied Intelligence: A Body-Centric Perspective 08:42 Emergence of Intelligence in Living Systems 11:36 Xenobots: The Intersection of AI and Biology 14:57 Ethics and Safety in Biological Robotics 17:45 Potential Applications of Xenobots 20:50 The Future of Living Machines 23:41 Challenges and Misunderstandings in AI Development 26:44 The Role of Physical Intelligence in AI 32:27 The Limitations of AI Creativity 35:45 Trusting Autonomous Vehicles 37:33 The Role of Robotics in Disaster Response 38:36 Physical Intelligence in Robotics 42:09 Building Machines with Experience 45:02 The Debate on Brain-Centric Intelligence 46:28 Understanding Embodiment and Collective Intelligence 51:00 AI and the Nature of Curiosity 56:16 Empathy Towards AI 59:50 Reflections on Transhumanism 01:00:51 The Future of AI and Robotics 01:04:43 Parting Thoughts on Collective Identity 01:06:09 Podcast exit terence Josh Bongard https://jbongard.github.io/ https://aiforgood.itu.int/speaker/joshua-bongard/ Keywords Music for every episode Intro and exit music used: Strange the dreamer by Savfk - www.youtube.com/@savfkmusic Connect with Ryan Anderson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awonderjunkie/ awonderjunkie.com Breathe4Flow.com Rumble https://rumble.com/user/awonderjunkie Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@awonderjunkie iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-wondejunkie/id1739838765 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1CcQXpxfV9P89IrKmtV2hS?si=6519a88aef444ba0 A bit about Ryan Anderson- https://open.spotify.com/episode/7bsR23JM4z6p1RPpbv7czC?si=4ba51224cf464e70 AI, robotics, Xenobots, intelligence, ethics, safety, physical intelligence, transhumanism, curiosity, collective intelligence, embodied intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Transhuman, Biophysics, Morphology, Robotics, Future of humanity, Embodied minds, Quantum Biology
