Sarah Walker

in a really simple description. So we didn't really have to worry about the fact that my cup is heavy and the air is light. The same laws describe them if we have the right material properties to talk about what those laws are actually interacting with. And so I think the issue with life is we don't know how to think about information in a material way.

in a really simple description. So we didn't really have to worry about the fact that my cup is heavy and the air is light. The same laws describe them if we have the right material properties to talk about what those laws are actually interacting with. And so I think the issue with life is we don't know how to think about information in a material way.

And so we haven't been able to build a unified description of what life is or the kind of things that Evolution builds because we haven't really invented the right material concept yet.

And so we haven't been able to build a unified description of what life is or the kind of things that Evolution builds because we haven't really invented the right material concept yet.

And so we haven't been able to build a unified description of what life is or the kind of things that Evolution builds because we haven't really invented the right material concept yet.

I think life obeys universal principles. I think there is some deep underlying explanatory framework that will tell us about the nature of life in the universe and will allow us to identify life that we can't yet recognize because it's too different.

I think life obeys universal principles. I think there is some deep underlying explanatory framework that will tell us about the nature of life in the universe and will allow us to identify life that we can't yet recognize because it's too different.

I think life obeys universal principles. I think there is some deep underlying explanatory framework that will tell us about the nature of life in the universe and will allow us to identify life that we can't yet recognize because it's too different.

You know, all the sort of classic definitions people want to use just don't work. They don't work in all cases. So Carl Sagan had this wonderful essay on definitions of life where I think he talks about aliens coming from another planet. If they saw Earth, they might think that cars were the dominant life form because there's so many of them on our planet.

You know, all the sort of classic definitions people want to use just don't work. They don't work in all cases. So Carl Sagan had this wonderful essay on definitions of life where I think he talks about aliens coming from another planet. If they saw Earth, they might think that cars were the dominant life form because there's so many of them on our planet.

You know, all the sort of classic definitions people want to use just don't work. They don't work in all cases. So Carl Sagan had this wonderful essay on definitions of life where I think he talks about aliens coming from another planet. If they saw Earth, they might think that cars were the dominant life form because there's so many of them on our planet.

And like humans are inside them and you might want to exclude machines. But any definition, you know, like classic biology textbook definitions would also include them. And so, you know, he wanted to draw a boundary between these kind of things by trying to exclude them. But they were naturally included by the definitions people want to give.

And like humans are inside them and you might want to exclude machines. But any definition, you know, like classic biology textbook definitions would also include them. And so, you know, he wanted to draw a boundary between these kind of things by trying to exclude them. But they were naturally included by the definitions people want to give.

And like humans are inside them and you might want to exclude machines. But any definition, you know, like classic biology textbook definitions would also include them. And so, you know, he wanted to draw a boundary between these kind of things by trying to exclude them. But they were naturally included by the definitions people want to give.

And in fact, what he ended up pointing out is that all of the definitions of life that we have, whether it's life as a self-reproducing system or life eats to survive or life requires compartments, whatever it is, there's always a counter example that challenges that definition. This is why viruses are so hard or why fire is so hard.

And in fact, what he ended up pointing out is that all of the definitions of life that we have, whether it's life as a self-reproducing system or life eats to survive or life requires compartments, whatever it is, there's always a counter example that challenges that definition. This is why viruses are so hard or why fire is so hard.

And in fact, what he ended up pointing out is that all of the definitions of life that we have, whether it's life as a self-reproducing system or life eats to survive or life requires compartments, whatever it is, there's always a counter example that challenges that definition. This is why viruses are so hard or why fire is so hard.

And so we've had a really hard time trying to pin down from a definitional perspective exactly what life is.

And so we've had a really hard time trying to pin down from a definitional perspective exactly what life is.

And so we've had a really hard time trying to pin down from a definitional perspective exactly what life is.