Lee Cronin: Chemist trying to make life from chemistry discusses genius, being wrong & Twitter mobs
Mar 25, 2021
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Chemist Lee Cronin, searching for a way to make chemistry alive, explores the definition of life and complexity. He shares the importance of being open to new ideas and embraces curiosity as a driving force. The podcast also delves into controversy surrounding a tweet and discusses the potential of robots in reproducible chemistry. The concept of time is challenged, proposing a new understanding of physics and the universe.
Dr. Lee Cronin aims to bridge the gap between chemistry and biology by creating new life from scratch.
Robots synthesizing complex molecules could lead to personalized medicine and revolutionize drug discovery.
Lee Cronin challenges the conventional view of physics by proposing that time is a particle with mass.
Deep dives
Chemist Dr. Lee Cronin explores the intersection of chemistry and biology
Dr. Lee Cronin, a chemist, discusses his work in bridging the gap between chemistry and biology. His lab focuses on digital chemistry and using robots to synthesize complex molecules. His goal is to understand the origin of life and create new life from scratch. He emphasizes the importance of defining life based on its ability to create complex objects that cannot form randomly in the environment. Dr. Cronin also shares his insights on time, dreams, and consciousness.
The challenges of defining life and implications for drug discovery
Dr. Cronin acknowledges the challenge of defining life and offers a perspective centered on complex objects that can be produced in abundance, indicating the involvement of evolution. He envisions a future where robots can reliably synthesize drugs and chemicals on-demand, leading to personalized medicine and easier access to essential compounds. While emphasizing the need for caution and ethical considerations, he believes that this approach can revolutionize drug discovery and manufacturing.
Navigating controversy and the role of Twitter in intellectual stimulation
Dr. Cronin recounts a Twitter controversy that arose from a playful tweet about renaming his lab. He expresses his intention to stimulate intellectual discourse and encourages people to question their perspectives. He discusses the challenges of navigating social media, including the fine line between offending and intellectually challenging others. Dr. Cronin also shares his thoughts on dreams, consciousness, overfitting, and the relationship between chemical substances and brain function. He advocates for the exploration of ideas and the expression of personal opinions while remaining sensitive to potential impacts.
Time as the Fundamental Entity
According to Lee Cronin, one of the controversial ideas he believes that almost no one agrees with is that physicists are wrong about time. He argues that time came first and it's a particle with mass. This understanding challenges the conventional view of physics and the understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. Cronin suggests that time is the monarch in the universe, urging us to rethink the way we approach and interpret physics.
The Future of Chemistry and Robotics
Lee Cronin envisions a future where robots perform chemistry in labs worldwide, revolutionizing the field. He aims to make chemistry safe, reproducible, and less dependent on manual labor. By integrating robotics, artificial intelligence, and practical chemistry, Cronin believes that the role of humans in conducting chemistry experiments will diminish significantly. He plans to bring together like-minded individuals who share his vision and expertise in chemistry, robotics, and AI to drive this transformation.
Dr. Lee Cronin is a university professor that is searching for a way to turn chemistry into something living. Cronin sat down with Vance Crowe to discuss what does it mean to be alive, how he has been a professor that has been able to question core assumptions in science, and why a Tweet almost got him canceled by a Twitter mob for a joke he made about the name of his lab POMHub.
Vance and Lee talk about famous scientists like Stephan Wolfram (A New Kind of Science) and Joscha Bach
Link to Lee Cronin's Ted Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/lee_cronin_making_matter_come_alive?language=en
Vance referenced an article on the value of dreams: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/enter-the-supersensorium-hoel
Chapters: 3:12 | Start 3:58 | What Lee Cronin's Lab Does 7:12 | What really is AI? 11:12 | Discovering the origin of Life 12:57 | How long until material science becomes useful? 19:55 | What does it mean to create life? 28:08 | Being wrong as a helpful trait 30:34 | How to survive in ivory towers 34:17 | Joscha Bach's Paper Walls 36:02 | Lee Cronin's Daemon 40:03 | How dreams enter the mind 42:31 | Dreaming a new model for time 45:52 | Twitter Joke wakes mob 50:22 | Using Twitter to offend people intellectually 55:56 | What's Lee Cronin's social life like? 59:13 | Where is Lee Cronin's work heading? 1:05:03 | How can you help Lee?
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