Cosmic Lifeforms, Abiogenesis, Machine Consciousness - Drs. M.S. DeLay & A.V. Bendebury, #299

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Nov 16, 2024

The hosts dive into the tricky task of redefining life, pushing beyond human-centric ideas. They explore Olaf Stapledon’s concept of stars as conscious entities, challenging our perceptions of existence in the universe. The conversation also touches on cosmic communication, intelligent extraterrestrial life, and the balance between order and chaos in both nature and society. Additionally, they examine the interconnectedness of life forms and how energy production in simple organisms parallels complex celestial dynamics, sparking new thoughts on consciousness.

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INSIGHT

Circular Definition of Life

NASA's definition of life, "a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution," is circular.
It defines life by a process (evolution) only living things do.

INSIGHT

Recognizing Life

We intuitively recognize life by movement, consumption, and reproduction.
However, these criteria alone do not define life since they can apply to other phenomena like lava flows.

INSIGHT

Life's Resistance to Equilibrium

Life resists equilibrium by actively maintaining its internal state despite environmental changes.
Death represents the inability to maintain this disequilibrium, leading to dissolution into the environment.

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Today we're bouncing off our recent conversation with evolutionary biologist, Dr. Michael Lachmann from SFI, and unpacking why the modern definition of life sucks and why it matters. We attempt to construct a more scientific (i.e. less circular) definition of life and take it for a walk in the park. As a test case we examine an inadvertent hypothesis, which stems from Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker, a science fiction work that supposes stars themselves have an interior life and that when they move according to gravity they are simply doing the dance of a school of fishes or drivers on a freeway. We pull out cases where the stars satisfy a scientific definition of life and also problems with the theory. The notion forces us to reconsider the limits of life and its possible forms in the universe. READ OLAF STAPLEDON'S STAR MAKER: https://amzn.to/4fkT6jd PATREON: get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98 (00:00) Go! (00:06:01) Rethinking Life's Definition (00:09:03) Anthropocentric cosmology (00:14:47) Life's Persistence (00:23:16) Harnessing Tension (00:30:20) Information and Evolution (00:36:29) Life Beyond Earth (00:41:13) Cosmic Communication (00:47:37) Communication and Understanding (00:57:00) Communication Across the Cosmos (01:10:47) Galactic Dynamics and Gravity (01:13:31) Stars as Autonomous Entities; Olaf Stapledon (01:22:29) Life's Potential Ubiquity (01:25:32 )Science's Quest for Understanding #LifeBeyondEarth, #LifeDefinition, #ExtraterrestrialLife, #starmaker, #CosmicPerception, #StellarLife, #Astrobiology, #PhilosophyOfLife, #CosmicCommunication, #GalacticDynamics, #StellarConsciousness, #UniversalLife, #ScienceAndPhilosophy, , #CosmicInteractions, #StellarProcesses, #LifeInTheUniverse, #Astrophysics, #SpaceExploration, #CosmicEvolution, #InterstellarCommunication, #LifeAndTheCosmos, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671