Today we're digging into the deep and often overlooked connections between neodarwinian evolution, life’s origins, and the evolution of non-living systems. We're guided by Dr. Michael Lachmann of the Santa Fe Institute, who investigates how life may have begun as a more generalized cosmic selection process, with planetary conditions shaping its emergence and survival. Through discussions of thermodynamics, functional information, and entropy, we examine whether life might be present in forms beyond Earth’s biology - and how'd know what to look for. In the end, this discussion swirls around what it means to be “alive” and how we can narrow boundaries of "life" to get closer to a true scientific definition of it.

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More about Dr. Lachmann: https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/michael-lachmann

(00:00 ) Go!
(00:07:08 ) Defining Life and Functional Information
(00:17:13 ) Selection in Planetary Systems
(00:24:02 ) Complexity and the Threshold of Life
(00:30:24 ) Defining the Threshold of Life
(00:36:01 ) Life’s Emergence and Definitions
(00:45:18 ) Rethinking Universal Timelines
(00:51:05 ) Eternal Existence and Origin Concepts
(01:00:23 ) Emerging Microbial Life
(01:07:25 ) Stars and Large-Scale Life
(01:19:59 ) Distinction Between Life and Alive
(01:25:00 ) Characteristics of Life Without Complex Parameters
(01:31:05 ) Artificial Life and Consciousness
(01:41:43 ) Distinguishing Life and Artificial Life
(01:54:50 ) Human Purpose and Cooperation
(02:00:03 ) Understanding AI and Human Systems
(02:09:44 ) Scientific Understanding and Cultural Narratives
(02:15:03 ) Happiness, Evolution, and Societal Constraints
(02:21:43 ) The Quest to Understand Life

#Evolution, #OriginOfLife, #Astrobiology, #ArtificialIntelligence, #Consciousness, #CosmicEvolution, #Biogenesis, #UniversalLife, #QuantumBiology, #LifeBeyondEarth, #LifeScience, #SpaceExploration, #ComplexSystems, #Thermodynamics, #FunctionalInformation, #ExtraterrestrialLife, #DeepSpace, #SelectionTheory, #Entropy, #LifeInTheUniverse, #CosmicOrigins, #MicrobialLife, #AIConsciousness, #SelfReplicatingSystems, #AstrobiologicalResearch, #LifeDefinition, #Metaphysics, #GalaxyFormation, #ScientificDiscovery, #PlanetaryLife, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast

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PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.

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