Modern Wisdom

#518 - Lee Cronin - What Will Alien Life Look Like?

Aug 27, 2022

Lee Cronin, Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, dives into the fascinating world of extraterrestrial life and the origins of life on Earth. He discusses his belief that life exists throughout the universe and explores what characteristics these life forms might share. Cronin elaborates on his lab's experiments simulating early life's development, challenges traditional definitions of life, and speculates on exotic life forms, including silicon-based organisms. He also contemplates humanity's place in the cosmic landscape and the future of life across planets.

54:16

Creator website

Episode guests

Lee Cronin

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Episode notes

Intro

4min

Understanding Memory Through Physical Arrangements in Nature

3min

Exploring Life's Origins

9min

Redefining Life: Artifacts and Existence

5min

The Evolution of Time and Energy

12min

Exploring the Possibilities of Alien Life

22min

Exploring Extraterrestrial Life and Complexity

4min

Lee Cronin is the Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, Head of the Cronin Group Lab and CEO of Chemify.

The job of deciding what life is, how it originates and the different forms it could take might sound like a task for UFO theorists but it's actually in the realm of chemists like Lee. This means that some of the biggest questions humanity has rest on his lab's shoulders.

Expect to learn why Lee believes that there is life everywhere in the universe, his theory on the origin of life here on earth, why we haven't seen any aliens yet, whether Robin Hanson's Great Filter hypothesis is true, what common traits all types of life will have, the most exotic types of life forms Lee has imagined and much more...

Extra Stuff:

Lee's Lab - http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/

Follow Lee on Twitter - https://twitter.com/leecronin

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