Famous Inorganic Chemist on Why He Believes Aliens Exist, The Revolutionary Experiments That Could Create Life & How AI Companies Are Deceiving Us

Mayim Bialik's Breakdown

Mayim Bialik

Mental Health, Society & Culture, Wellness, Health & Fitness, Comedy, Thebigbangtheory, Spirituality, Selfimprovement, Mentalhealth

4.7 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are aliens already among us? Are we even looking in the right way to find them? Renowned chemist, molecular visionary, and University of Glasgow Regis professor Lee Cronin joins Mayim and Jonathan to explore the science behind alien life, consciousness, and the very definition of biology itself. Known for his groundbreaking work in assembly theory and abiogenesis, Dr. Cronin dives deep into the possibility of non-carbon-based life, why the Fermi Paradox might be misleading, and how we could soon detect extraterrestrial civilizations through the mathematics of complexity. As one of the world’s leading voices in origin of life research, Dr. Cronin offers bold counterpoints to other guests on alien intelligence and reveals why he believes some exoplanets may already harbor advanced technology. He explains how chemical complexity could be the key to recognizing life in the universe, and why traditional astrobiology might be looking in the wrong place. The conversation also takes a turn toward the dark side of AI: how artificial intelligence may already be used by powerful institutions for dangerous, even covert purposes and why Cronin thinks we should rethink our fear of it. From the dream of building living machines to redefining what counts as life or consciousness, this episode is a mind-bending journey into the future of science, philosophy, and alien discovery.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	We haven't seen aliens and life, therefore there isn't any there.
0:05.0	The reason we haven't seen them is we don't know how to recognize them,
0:08.0	we don't recognize how to communicate, and we don't really know what intelligence is.
0:13.0	The Fermi paradox was built upon a false argument.
0:18.0	You're saying we may find a planet that has evidence that something lived there.
0:23.6	On the average star, it's probably got several planets around it. What percentage of those stars can have life?
0:28.6	It could be really quite high. Life on this planet is carbon-based. What if life is not carbon-based elsewhere? The answer is almost certainly yes. It takes a
0:41.4	massive leap in imagination. On Earth, we are a carbon life form with silicon technology. Could we
0:47.9	flip it round and imagine a world where there's silicon life with carbon technology? We are in a big AI delusion right now.
0:57.0	There are a number of levels where AI is being just misused and people just using it to steal money.
1:03.0	What's the hard problem that you're focused on and how are you approaching it?
1:06.0	We all want to know why we're here. We all want to have a connection to the cosmos.
1:09.0	Hemifai's plan is to actually help us crack the origin of life by building the hardware to search chemical space.
1:15.6	Solving the origin of life is not going to make life any less wonderful. It's going to make it more wonderful.
1:25.6	Hi, I am I.M. B. Alec.
1:28.9	I'm Jonathan Cohen.
1:29.8	And welcome to our breakdown. Wow. Get ready, people.
1:34.7	Love, aliens, artificial intelligence, consciousness, the future of spreading humanity across the galaxy.
1:47.7	Have we found aliens?
1:49.5	We may be looking for the wrong thing.
1:52.8	Who is the only person who can talk about all these things?
1:55.5	Believe it or not, it's an inorganic chemist.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mayim Bialik, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mayim Bialik and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.