Brian Cox

So it probably doesn't matter on a global scale, but it matters locally because of this idea that meaning emerges from complex biological systems. So if you don't care about that, what do you care about? But actually, I read a book. Have you had David Deutsch on the show? David Deutsch is a really interesting physicist. I don't believe I have. He's one of the founders of quantum computing.

And so he's a big figure in quantum computing in particular. But he's a great thinker. And I was reading some stuff he wrote recently. And he pointed out that it's not necessarily true that life is temporary. Because you could imagine a situation as you go into the far future. Let's imagine that we continue for a million years or a billion years as a civilization. Imagine what we could do.

And so he's a big figure in quantum computing in particular. But he's a great thinker. And I was reading some stuff he wrote recently. And he pointed out that it's not necessarily true that life is temporary. Because you could imagine a situation as you go into the far future. Let's imagine that we continue for a million years or a billion years as a civilization. Imagine what we could do.

And so he's a big figure in quantum computing in particular. But he's a great thinker. And I was reading some stuff he wrote recently. And he pointed out that it's not necessarily true that life is temporary. Because you could imagine a situation as you go into the far future. Let's imagine that we continue for a million years or a billion years as a civilization. Imagine what we could do.

It is possible that life can get so advanced in the universe that it can start to manipulate the universe itself. Or at least stars. He said you could imagine, for example, just imagine. Wild speculation. But imagine life gets so advanced that it can start to change the destiny of a star. Maybe it could start to add material into the star or something, you know, whatever.

It is possible that life can get so advanced in the universe that it can start to manipulate the universe itself. Or at least stars. He said you could imagine, for example, just imagine. Wild speculation. But imagine life gets so advanced that it can start to change the destiny of a star. Maybe it could start to add material into the star or something, you know, whatever.

It is possible that life can get so advanced in the universe that it can start to manipulate the universe itself. Or at least stars. He said you could imagine, for example, just imagine. Wild speculation. But imagine life gets so advanced that it can start to change the destiny of a star. Maybe it could start to add material into the star or something, you know, whatever.

So we don't know how to do that or if it's possible, but imagine it could. Then the evolution of stars... life would matter in the sense that it could start to change the way that the universe behaves on a large scale in the future. And so it reminded me, actually, there's another great book by John Barrow and Frank Tipler called The Anthropic Cosmological Principle from the 1980s.

So we don't know how to do that or if it's possible, but imagine it could. Then the evolution of stars... life would matter in the sense that it could start to change the way that the universe behaves on a large scale in the future. And so it reminded me, actually, there's another great book by John Barrow and Frank Tipler called The Anthropic Cosmological Principle from the 1980s.

So we don't know how to do that or if it's possible, but imagine it could. Then the evolution of stars... life would matter in the sense that it could start to change the way that the universe behaves on a large scale in the future. And so it reminded me, actually, there's another great book by John Barrow and Frank Tipler called The Anthropic Cosmological Principle from the 1980s.

It's one of my favorite books, actually. And I remembered it. And in there, they speculate about this life in the far, far future. And if it became powerful enough to manipulate the whole universe or the observable universe, then suddenly you can't make predictions about the far future unless you consider the possible impact of life on the universe.

It's one of my favorite books, actually. And I remembered it. And in there, they speculate about this life in the far, far future. And if it became powerful enough to manipulate the whole universe or the observable universe, then suddenly you can't make predictions about the far future unless you consider the possible impact of life on the universe.

It's one of my favorite books, actually. And I remembered it. And in there, they speculate about this life in the far, far future. And if it became powerful enough to manipulate the whole universe or the observable universe, then suddenly you can't make predictions about the far future unless you consider the possible impact of life on the universe.

And whilst this is, I should say, it's wildly speculative, but it's actually logically it's quite an interesting point. So I kind of disagree with myself a few years ago where I would have said that life is extremely valuable because it brings meaning to the universe, but temporarily. And so it brings these brief like flickering candles of meaning and then they go out again.

And whilst this is, I should say, it's wildly speculative, but it's actually logically it's quite an interesting point. So I kind of disagree with myself a few years ago where I would have said that life is extremely valuable because it brings meaning to the universe, but temporarily. And so it brings these brief like flickering candles of meaning and then they go out again.

And whilst this is, I should say, it's wildly speculative, but it's actually logically it's quite an interesting point. So I kind of disagree with myself a few years ago where I would have said that life is extremely valuable because it brings meaning to the universe, but temporarily. And so it brings these brief like flickering candles of meaning and then they go out again.

But it's worth considering. It might not necessarily be true that if you really think. I mean, just to say, I mean, it must sound to many people listening just nonsense, right? Science fiction. But if you think our civilization has been around for 10,000 years at best, really, give or take. And in that time, we've sent stuff out of the solar system.

But it's worth considering. It might not necessarily be true that if you really think. I mean, just to say, I mean, it must sound to many people listening just nonsense, right? Science fiction. But if you think our civilization has been around for 10,000 years at best, really, give or take. And in that time, we've sent stuff out of the solar system.

But it's worth considering. It might not necessarily be true that if you really think. I mean, just to say, I mean, it must sound to many people listening just nonsense, right? Science fiction. But if you think our civilization has been around for 10,000 years at best, really, give or take. And in that time, we've sent stuff out of the solar system.

Although we're way away from being able to manipulate stars, we can manipulate planets. So we are changing the way this planet operates. Life has changed it. The oxygen in the atmosphere, before we appeared, the oxygen in the atmosphere is a product of life. So life already... We know change is planets.