#318 – Nick Lane: Origin of Life, Evolution, Aliens, Biology, and Consciousness

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Technology, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Science

4.7 • 13K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2022

⏱️ 228 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nick Lane is a biochemist at UCL and author of Transformer, The Vital Question, and many other amazing books on biology, chemistry, and life. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– Backbone: https://playbackbone.com/lex to get perks with order
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EPISODE LINKS:
Nick’s Website: https://nick-lane.net
Nick’s Books:
Transformer: https://amzn.to/3cy7lpO
The Vital Question: https://amzn.to/3q0vN6q
Oxygen: https://amzn.to/3edy3V5
Power, Sex, Suicide: https://amzn.to/3B3OInk
Life Ascending: https://amzn.to/3wKIsOE
Books mentioned:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century: https://amzn.to/3AZQaqy
The Black Cloud: https://amzn.to/3wJhDKC

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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
(05:45) – Origin of life
(19:31) – Panspermia
(25:05) – What is life?
(38:20) – Photosynthesis
(41:55) – Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells
(51:56) – Sex
(59:39) – DNA
(1:06:51) – Violence
(1:17:25) – Human evolution
(1:23:21) – Neanderthals
(1:26:53) – Sensory inputs
(1:37:43) – Consciousness
(2:09:17) – AI and biology
(2:38:36) – Evolution
(2:59:07) – Fermi paradox
(3:12:27) – Cities
(3:20:14) – Depression
(3:22:50) – Writing
(3:30:49) – Advice for young people
(3:37:57) – Earth

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The following is a conversation with Nick Lane, a biochemist at University College London,
0:05.3	and author of some of my favorite books on biology, science, and life ever written, including
0:11.8	his two most recent title, Transformer, The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death, and The
0:17.3	Vital Question.
0:18.9	Why is life the way it is?
0:22.3	Now a quick few second mention of each sponsor.
0:25.6	Check them out in the description is the best way to support this podcast.
0:29.3	We got backbone for gaming, new sponsor by the way, new amazing sponsor, Notion for
0:34.9	startups, Better Help for Mental Health, and Blinkist for Non-Fiction.
0:40.3	Choose wise and my friends.
0:42.1	And now onto the full ad reads.
0:43.7	As always, no ads in the middle.
0:45.3	I try to make this interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors.
0:49.4	I enjoy their stuff, maybe you will too.
0:52.6	They show, it's brought to you by a new sponsor called backbone.
0:57.5	It's a controller for the ultimate gaming experience on your phone.
1:01.8	They just released an officially licensed controller for PlayStation, the backbone, one
1:06.0	PlayStation edition.
1:07.6	They collaborated with the PlayStation design team, materials, colors, and finishes are
1:11.7	all inspired by the PS5 DualSense controller by the way.
1:16.3	I now also have a PlayStation.
1:19.0	If you want to be a little bit more mobile, while maintaining the incredible haptic interface
	...

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