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Lex Fridman Podcast

#198 – Sara Walker: The Origin of Life on Earth and Alien Worlds

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Technology, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Science

4.713.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2021

⏱️ 125 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sara Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist interested in the origin of life. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Sara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sara_Imari
Sara’s Website: http://emergence.asu.edu/

PODCAST INFO:
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SUPPORT & CONNECT:
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– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:44) – Origin of life
(15:38) – Did aliens seed life on Earth?
(20:48) – What is life?
(32:27) – Cellular automata
(36:56) – The laws of physics may change with time
(46:41) – Nobel Prize for the origin of life
(52:01) – Is consciousness fundamental to the universe?
(1:03:19) – Life is the most deterministic part of physics
(1:05:54) – Free will
(1:14:11) – How to detect alien life
(1:28:48) – How many alien civilization are out there?
(1:35:32) – Shadow biosphere
(1:41:59) – UFO sightings
(1:45:35) – Exponential population growth of AI lifeforms
(1:52:42) – The role of death in life
(1:56:45) – Advice for young people
(2:02:31) – Meaning of life

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following is a conversation with Sarah Walker, an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist

0:05.0

at Arizona State University and the Santa Fe Institute.

0:08.7

She is interested in the origin of life, how to find life on other worlds, and in general

0:14.1

the more fundamental question of what even life is.

0:18.2

She seeks to discover the universal laws that describe living systems on Earth and elsewhere,

0:23.5

using physics, biology, and computation.

0:27.6

Luke mentioned of our sponsors, Athletic Greens, Netsuite, Blinkist, and Magic Spoon.

0:33.4

Check them out in the description to support this podcast.

0:36.0

As a side note, let me say that my hope for this podcast is to try and alternate between

0:41.3

technical and non-technical discussions, to jump from the big picture down to specific

0:46.8

detail research and back to the big picture, and to do so with scientists and non-scientists.

0:53.9

In terms, I hope to alternate between discussions of cutting edge research in AI, physics, biology,

1:00.0

to topics of music, sport, and history, and then back to AI.

1:05.2

AI is home.

1:06.6

I hope you come along with me for that wild, oscillating journey.

1:11.7

Some people message me saying to slow down since they're falling behind on the episodes

1:15.9

of this podcast.

1:17.8

To their disappointment, I have to say that I'll probably do more episodes, not less,

1:22.6

but you really don't need to listen to every episode.

1:25.8

Just listen to the ones that spark your curiosity.

1:28.6

Think about it like a party full of strangers.

1:30.8

You don't have to talk to everyone.

...

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