Robinson's Podcast 264 - Lee Cronin: The Chemistry of Life
32 snips
Nov 23, 2025 
Lee Cronin, Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, dives into the mysteries of life's origins and the digitization of chemistry. He explores whether life is unique to Earth and breaks down the core processes that transform sand into cells. The conversation touches on chemputation, the application of AI in chemistry, and the concerns of AI as an agent. Lee challenges the narratives around the selfish gene and emphasizes the significance of assembly theory, all while debunking extreme AI apocalypse fears.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Life As Persistence, Not Just Origin
- Life is best framed as persistence: things must both exist and persist to matter.
- Lee Cronin argues the central phenomenon to explain is the physical process that produces persistence across the universe.
Seek A Universal Process For Life
- The scientific aim should be the general process that generates life everywhere, not the single Earth origin event.
- Cronin treats life as a repeatable outcome of matter, energy, heterogeneity, and selection operating over time.
The 'Self' As A Missing Domain
- Cronin adds a 'self' domain to traditional origin-of-life frameworks alongside metabolism, genetics, and proteins.
- He believes matter acquires life when it develops a self that can persist and act on its environment.