Is the Assembling Index a Sign of Life?

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The assembly index is supposed to be the minimal amount of history that the universe has to undergo in order to assemble that particular object. We figured out how to measure that with a mass spec in the lab, and we had this conjecture that if that minimal number of steps was sufficiently large, it would indicate that you required a machine or a system that had information about how to assemble that specific object. So there will be potentially a lot of arguments about where the line, a which assembly index does interesting stuff start to happen.

Sara Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist. Lee Cronin is a chemist. This is a conversation and debate about alien life and alien civilizations. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:47) – Aliens
(21:53) – What is life?
(29:35) – Assembly theory
(52:03) – Math
(1:03:45) – Communication with aliens
(1:28:38) – Evolution of the universe
(1:37:56) – Creating alien life
(1:45:29) – Origin of life
(1:52:29) – Before the Big Bang
(1:59:22) – God
(2:09:39) – Goal-directed behavior
(2:27:37) – Time
(2:35:54) – Free will and imagination
(2:51:06) – UFO sightings
(2:56:06) – Alien life forms debate
(3:11:14) – Robots
(3:20:29) – Love and emotion
(3:38:55) – Beauty in science
(3:49:06) – Random questions
(3:58:30) – Advice for young people
(4:01:48) – Life on Earth
(4:06:12) – Memory