Assembly Theory: Measuring how alive something is based on its building blocks

Molecules should not be viewed as hard point objects like elementary particles, but rather as complex objects to be examined from a material perspective./nThe construction of molecules or objects involves the joining of smaller components to create bonds and build towards a specific object./nLife is unique in that it builds objects above a certain minimal path in a space of possibilities by reducing uncertainty and adding information./nThe presence of specific objects with a high abundance and large depth suggests the existence of a system that evolved the knowledge to build them./nObjects themselves serve as evidence that information in their environment exists to assemble them./nThe complexity and aliveness of objects increase as one delves deeper into the space of possibilities and associated information./nThis approach provides a means to study non-life, life-boundering chemistry in a laboratory setting by measuring the shortest path in that space.