Playing God or Saving Nature? Gene Editing, Artificial Wombs & the Return of Extinct Species | Ben Lamm PT 2

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Impact Theory

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4.7 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome back to the second half of this eye-opening discussion with Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences. In Part 2, Tom and Ben dig even deeper, tackling the massive ethical questions and transformative possibilities that arise when humans hold the keys to edit and design life itself. Whether it’s confronting the future of embryo screening, germline editing, the potential for designer babies, or the international arms race in biotechnology—no topic is off limits. Ben shares insider stories on Colossal’s dire wolf project, explains misconceptions about cloning, and reveals the unexpected hurdles and breakthroughs in the world of synthetic biology. They discuss how these advances can directly impact human longevity, environmental crises like plastic pollution, and even set the stage for building the living cities and ocean habitats of tomorrow. This is a no-holds-barred, jam-packed episode for anyone intrigued by the future of engineering life—and the urgent questions we all must face as the bio-revolution unfolds. SHOWNOTES 33:30 – The Moral and Ethical Responsibility of ‘Playing God’ 34:58 – Human Genome Editing, Embryo Selection, and the Coming Revolution in IVF 39:14 – The Personal Side: Ben’s Own IVF Journey and Making Hard Choices 44:41 – The Slippery Slope: Intelligence, Disease, and Future Human Potential 51:36 – International Competition: US vs. China in Biotech and Human Enhancement 58:46 – Accelerating Gene Editing: Multiplexing, Cloning, and Animal Selection 1:09:12 – Rewilding and Ecosystem Impact: Fact vs. Jurassic Park Fiction 1:22:42 – The Longevity Escape Velocity and Radical Life Extension 1:44:08 – Innovations for the Planet: Enzymes That Break Down Plastic & Ocean Engineering 1:49:40 – The Future of Synthetic Biology: Designed Environments, Health, and Next-Gen Conservation FOLLOW BEN LAMM Twitter/X: @federallamm LinkedIn: Ben Lamm CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS ButcherBox: Ready to level up your meals? Go to ⁠https://ButcherBox.com/impact⁠ to get $20 off your first box and FREE bacon for life with the Bilyeu Box! Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to ⁠https://www.vitalproteins.com⁠ and entering promo code IMPACT at check out Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at ⁠https://shopify.com/impact⁠ Netsuite: Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning at ⁠https://NetSuite.com/THEORY⁠ iTrust Capital: Use code IMPACTGO when you sign up and fund your account to get a $100 bonus at ⁠https://www.itrustcapital.com/tombilyeu⁠ Mint Mobile: If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at ⁠https://mintmobile.com/impact.⁠ DISCLAIMER: Upfront payment of $45 for 3-month 5 gigabyte plan required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customer offer for first 3 months only, then full-price plan options available. Taxes & fees extra. See MINT MOBILE for details. What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business:⁠ join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER⁠ SCALING a business:⁠ see if you qualify here.⁠ Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox:⁠ sign up here.⁠ ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS:⁠ apple.co/impacttheory⁠ ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/⁠ Tik Tok:⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en⁠ Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/tombilyeu⁠ YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get a fresh start feeling for less. At Matalan, there's a huge 20% off homeware and kids wear.
0:08.6	Get your home and garden prepped for the sunny weather and kit out the kids too.
0:14.1	Shop in store and online at matelan.com.uk. Tis and C's Apply.
0:20.3	I'm Tom Billu and this is Impact Theory. Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Ben Lamb. Let's dive right back in. As you look at what is going to be possible, everything has to be done in order. You can't do everything all at once.
0:36.2	Actually, you can parallel path a lot of it.
0:38.2	Same more.
0:38.9	Yeah. So in this whole system, right? So while we're doing the computational analysis,
0:43.2	we know we're going to edit Asian elephant cells. So we have to get Asian elephant cells, right?
0:47.2	We have to get the soup or the medium to grow them and grow them happily. We actually,
0:51.7	so one of the things that's interesting about, we're having this, I had this conversation last night over drinks with Bob Nelson, about P53.
0:59.1	So do you know anything about P53?
1:01.1	Yeah, having just had cancer removed from my face, yes.
1:03.9	Yes. So not everyone does, right? And so what's interesting about P53 is us and mice have
1:10.0	one copy of it.
1:11.6	And the elephants and blue whales, which are harder to study than elephants for the whole
1:16.6	breathing thing, is, has a, they have about 20 times the expression.
1:21.6	And what we know about, we don't understand everything about P53, but what we know about it in
1:25.6	overexpression is when a mutation occurs,
1:30.3	cancer is a mutation. What it does is the cell senesses. It like auto, it like auto terminates
1:36.7	itself. It just kills itself, right? So then it doesn't turn into a tumor and then, you know,
1:42.1	go crazy. And so we know this about blue whales. We know this
1:46.0	about elephants specifically. And if you look at the age that elephants live and the body weight
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