StarTalk Radio The Origins of Life with Sara Imari Walker
23 snips
Oct 15, 2024 
In this fascinating discussion, astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker, the Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, teams up with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice. They dive into the philosophical and scientific aspects of life, including the potential for non-carbon-based organisms and AI as a form of life. From assembly theory to the revolutionary insights of the Miller-Urey experiment, they unravel how complexity arises in nature. The conversation balances humor and profound inquiry into life’s mysterious origins.
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Defining Life
- Instead of defining life, focus on a theory that derives life's properties.
- Predict life's features universally.
Information and Life
- Life's informational structure organizes matter.
- Focus on commonalities underlying various definitions of life.
Assembly Theory
- Assembly theory suggests life is the only physics generating complex objects like cells.
- This differentiates it from spontaneously formed objects.