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The Quill Nook ExperienceSporadic, honest conversations with people doing real work in the worldfarmers, builders, herbalists, designers, practitioners of all kinds. Host Tristan Roberts -- a farmer, father, and former legislator -- talks with guests willing to think out... Author: Tristan Roberts
Sporadic, honest conversations with people doing real work in the worldfarmers, builders, herbalists, designers, practitioners of all kinds. Host Tristan Roberts -- a farmer, father, and former legislator -- talks with guests willing to think out loud, admit uncertainty, and go deep on what actually works (and what doesn't).Episodes are released sporadically. If you're looking for life hacks or inspirational success stories, this isn't it. But if you want to hear what honest conversation sounds like between people doing real workwith all the nuance, doubt, and hard-won wisdom that entailsyou're in the right place. Language: en Genres: Kids & Family, Parenting, Personal Journals, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Ep 9: Charlie Munford: Being Is For Knowing
Episode 9
Wednesday, 5 August, 2026
The standard theory of biology says organisms are gene-controlled robots, that minds are along for the ride, and that life is fundamentally about survival and reproduction. Charlie Munford thinks the causal arrow points the wrong way.Charlie Munford runs Banjo Tree Service in southern Vermont. He's also the president of the Agential Biology Institute, a nonprofit he co-founded with researchers at Oxford, Tufts, Tel Aviv, and UVM—including Michael Levin, Denis Noble, and Stuart Kauffman—to challenge one of biology's most foundational assumptions.We work through the evidence: bacteria editing their own genomes under stress, worms passing inherited memories to offspring across twenty generations, mice transmitting olfactory sensitivities through sperm.We talk about cancer and autoimmunity as problems of self-recognition, about what it would mean for geopolitics if knowledge—not resources—were the fundamental currency of life.We also talk about pigs. Specifically: a pot-bellied pig named Mr. T who went to college, and what three radically different human relationships to the same species reveal about where values come from.Recorded at Quill Nook Farm, Halifax, Vermont.Subscribe to The Quill Nook Experience:Apple | Spotify | RSSGet in touch: tristan@tristanroberts.orgWebsite: http://www.tristanroberts.orgMusic: Produced by Turner Andrasz, beat-boxing by Felix Roberts, guitar by Tristan Roberts, drums by Merrill Garbus
