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263 - Sara Imari Walker: Astrobiology, Aliens, and the Origin of Life

263 - Sara Imari Walker: Astrobiology, Aliens, and the Origin of Life

Robinson's Podcast vor 9 Monaten

0:00

1:47:05

Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space
Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy
Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and
theoretical physicist, with research interests in
the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on
other worlds. In this episode, Robinson and Sara discuss the
physics that makes life possible. More particularly, they discuss
assembly theory, the growing field of astrobiology, the
difficulties of defining life, and where we are most likely to
find aliens. Sara’s latest book is Life as No One Knows It: The
Physics of Life’s Emergence (Riverhead Books, 2024).

Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2e

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

00:35 The Connection Between Physics and Biology

07:15 Philosophy and the Origin of Life

10:03 Is the Selfish Gene Theory Wrong?

22:17 On Her Work with Lee Cronin

38:47 Experiments To Discover the Origin of Life

48:52 What Is Assembly Theory?

01:00:42 Are Boltzmann Brains Possible?

01:05:53 The Paradox of Defining Life

01:31:10 Is Life a Vague Concept?

01:38:13 Where Are All the Aliens?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of
mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD
candidate in the Law School.