The speaker characterizes Aristotle as an animist who understood anima as intrinsically agentic, self-organizing software that progresses through the world, shapes bodies, and makes parts of physics alive; the speaker calls this a modern view.

“It's-- This is a very modern view. So in some sense, Aristotle is an animist. He is seeing that there is this anima that is, um, progressing through the world that is intrinsically agentic, and it's agentic self-organizing software that is shaping the body, that is making a part of physics to be alive.”