Why We're Living in a Biological Singularity With Ben Lamm | MOONSHOTS Live #297
September 30, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe Biological Singularity Is Closer Than You Think
Ben Lamm, founder of Colossal Biosciences, walked into synthetic biology with no background in the field. He had started companies in gaming, defense, AI, and mobile before deciding that bringing back extinct species was his next moonshot. When Peter Diamandis asked whether that lack of biology expertise was a hindrance or an advantage, Lamm was unequivocal: it was a massive advantage. "I get to go into meetings to just ask questions," he said. "90% of the time, people are like, 'Okay, if you knew more about biology, this maybe would go faster.' But then 10% of the time, they're like, 'We never thought of it that way.'"
His co-founder, George Church — the father of synthetic biology and head of genetics at Harvard — calls Lamm "the best student he's never had." Lamm peppers Church with questions during holiday seasons when no one else is working, absorbing knowledge about the possibilities of synthetic biology. It's a model Lamm recommends to anyone: hire people smarter than you, stay curious, and ask for help. "People will help you," he said. "If you just look out for a second and ask for help, people help you."
Where AI Meets Biology Today
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Moonshots with Peter Diamandis
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 Timestamped Navigation Outline
- 2 (00:04) **Opening Banter & Teacup Mammoth Requests** - Ben Lamm jokes about the "teacup mammoth" requests Colossal receives and the pop-culture interest in de-extinction
- 3 (01:38) **Why a Non-Biologist Founded a $10B Synthetic Biology Company** - Lamm explains how his lack of biology background became a massive advantage in building Colossal
- 4 (03:18) **George Church: The Father of Synthetic Biology** - Lamm describes his co-founder and the collaborative culture of his Harvard lab
- 5 (04:30) **AI in Biology: From Middleware to Simulation** - Lamm explains how Colossal uses AI and where the real breakthroughs are coming
- 6 (07:48) **The Data Set is More Valuable Than the Model** - Lamm argues that comparative genomics at scale will unlock biological understanding
- 7 (09:49) **De-Extinction: The Limits and Possibilities** - Lamm addresses whether humanity could revive every organism that ever lived
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
The Mates sit down with Ben Lamm at MOONSHOTS Live 2026 to discuss why we’re entering a biological singularity, from Anthropic’s move into biology and scalable gene editing to the possibility of artificial wombs within the next 24 months.
This episode was filmed at Moonshots Live 2026. Learn more at https://moonshots.com/
Get access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else - https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends
Peter H. Diamandis, MD, is the Founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, ZeroG, and A360
Salim Ismail is the founder of Open ExO, a GP at Exponential Venture Capital/The Organizational Singularity Fund and a sought after global speaker and thought leader.
Dave Blundin is the founder & GP of Link Ventures
Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross is a computer scientist and founder of Reified
Ben Lamm is the co-founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company using genetic engineering and AI to advance species preservation and de-extinction efforts.
–
This event is presented with:
Future Vision XPRIZE Partners:
Build with Gemini XPRIZE Partner:
_
Connect with Peter:
Connect with Dave:
Connect with Salim:
Subscribe to Salim’s YouTube channel
Connect with Alex