27. Charles S. Cockell — The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2018

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We are all familiar with the popular idea of strange alien life wildly different from life on earth inhabiting other planets. Maybe it’s made of silicon! Maybe it has wheels! Or maybe it doesn’t. In The Equations of Life, astrobiologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution’s outcomes predictable. If we were to find on a distant planet something very much like a lady bug eating something like an aphid, we shouldn’t be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.

In addition to these topics, Dr. Shermer and Dr. Cockell discuss: the origins of life on earth; the possibility of finding life on Mars and, if we did, would it have something like DNA, albeit with different base pairs?; Fermi’s paradox: if the laws of physics and evolution are so common throughout the universe, and there are so many earth-like planets in our galaxy alone (estimated to be in the billions), where is everyone?; humanity becoming an interplanetary species (possibly the first), and if so what type of governing system we should employ for, say, the first colonies on Mars.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is your host, Michael Sherman, and you're listening to Science Salon, a series of conversations
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0:41.8	So Charles is the professor of astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh and the director of the UK
0:46.4	Center for Astrobiology, received his BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Bristol and his doctorate in molecular
0:54.5	biophysics from the University of Oxford.
0:57.4	His interests encompass life in extreme environments, the habitability of extraterrestrial
1:01.8	environments, and the
1:03.1	exploration and settlement of space. He held a National Academy of
1:07.6	Sciences Association with NASA and worked at the British Antarctic Survey
1:11.8	and Open University.
1:13.7	Published over 300 scientific papers,
1:15.5	numerous books, including a series on the
1:17.2	condition for Liberty Beyond Earth.
1:19.8	Hey, I got to tell you something funny.
1:21.5	I had a little Twitter exchange with
1:23.8	Elon Musk because I was oh would it yeah he he posted something about you know he's
	...

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