8min chapter

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman cover image

Ep77 "What is Life?"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

CHAPTER

Complexity and the Signature of Life

This chapter examines the interplay between information, causation, and the emergence of complex technologies as markers of life, illustrated by the hypothetical discovery of a cell phone on Mars. It introduces assembly theory, arguing that complex structures cannot arise spontaneously and highlights the existence of a 'complexity threshold' in chemistry that differentiates living from non-living entities.

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