The Origin of Consciousness

I think the emergence of life and by extension mind in the universe is one of the most profound, but also baffling aspects of existence. I've been working on the origin of life at Arizona State University for about 15 years. It's still a deep mystery. We might very well either be able to make life in the lab or we've been discovered in elsewhere. So it's all part of the sort of unfolding glory of the cosmos. And I see us as playing a very modest role in that. But as representing part of that outworking of those laws, the comprehension, for me, is really the key.