Lex Fridman Podcast
#394 – Neri Oxman: Biology, Art, and Science of Design & Engineering with Nature
01 Sep 2023
Neri Oxman is a designer, engineer, scientist, and artist working on computational design, synthetic biology and digital fabrication, previously at MIT, and now at OXMAN. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Babbel: https://babbel.com/lexpod and use code Lexpod to get 55% off - BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off - House of Macadamias: https://houseofmacadamias.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% off first order - InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off - ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/neri-oxman-transcript EPISODE LINKS: Neri's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nerioxman OXMAN Website: https://oxman.com/ OXMAN Instagram: https://instagram.com/oxmanofficial PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (09:06) - Biomass vs anthropomass (23:27) - Computational templates (43:42) - Biological hero organisms (54:42) - Engineering with bacteria (1:02:59) - Plant communication (1:16:22) - Albert Einstein letter (1:19:44) - Beauty (1:24:40) - Faith (1:34:26) - Flaws (1:54:15) - Extinction (2:05:22) - Alien life (2:09:12) - Music (2:10:39) - Movies (2:15:11) - Advice for young people
Full Episode
The following is a conversation with Neri Oxman, an engineer, scientist, designer, architect, artist, and one of the kindest, most thoughtful, and brilliant human beings I've ever gotten to know.
For a long time, she led the mediated matter group at MIT that did research and built incredible stuff at the intersection of computational design, digital fabrication, material science, and synthetic biology, doing so at all scales, from the micro scale to the building scale.
Now she's continuing this work at a very new company for now called Oxman, looking to revolutionize how humans design and build products working with nature, not against it. On a personal note, let me say that Neri has for a long time been a friend and someone who in my darker moments has always been there with a note of kindness and support. I am forever grateful to her.
She's a brilliant and a beautiful human being. Oh, and she also brought me a present, War and Peace by Tolstoy and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It doesn't get better than that. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast.
We got Babbel for learning new languages, BetterHelp for mental health, House of Macadamias for delicious snacks, InsideTracker for biological data, and ExpressVPN for your security and privacy on the internet. Choose wisely, my friends. Also, if you want to work with our amazing team, we're always hiring. Go to lexfriedman.com slash hiring. And now onto the full ad reads.
As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting, but if you must skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This show is brought to you by Babbel, an app and website that gets you speaking in a new language within weeks. I've been using Babbel to start on a long journey of learning Spanish.
Anyway, I think the idea of breaking down barriers that languages create is a really powerful thing. Plus, it's a really fun mental exercise and journey that you can go on in exploring different styles and ways of communication.
Language is a way to express the music that's in your heart, that's in your mind, through compressing the incredibly complex and rich set of stuff that's going on inside your mind into a very thin stream of words. And obviously every single language approaches that problem as a solution to that problem, to that puzzle differently.
And so one of the joys and one of the challenges of learning a new language is figuring out how that puzzle is solved. Anyway, get 55% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com slash lexpod, spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash lexpod. Rules and restrictions apply. This episode is also brought to you by BetterHelp, spelled H-E-L-P, help.
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