Sarah Walker

is a real feature that we should take seriously as one that's deeply embedded in the laws of physics and the structure of the universe that we live in. Standard physics would say that all of that complexity traces back to the infinitesimal deviations and like the initial state of the universe that there was some order there.

is a real feature that we should take seriously as one that's deeply embedded in the laws of physics and the structure of the universe that we live in. Standard physics would say that all of that complexity traces back to the infinitesimal deviations and like the initial state of the universe that there was some order there.

is a real feature that we should take seriously as one that's deeply embedded in the laws of physics and the structure of the universe that we live in. Standard physics would say that all of that complexity traces back to the infinitesimal deviations and like the initial state of the universe that there was some order there.

I find that deeply unsatisfactory and what assembly theory says that's very different is that The universe is basically constructing itself. And when you get to these common editorial spaces like chemistry, where the space of possibilities is too large to exhaust them all, you can only construct things along historically contingent paths.

I find that deeply unsatisfactory and what assembly theory says that's very different is that The universe is basically constructing itself. And when you get to these common editorial spaces like chemistry, where the space of possibilities is too large to exhaust them all, you can only construct things along historically contingent paths.

I find that deeply unsatisfactory and what assembly theory says that's very different is that The universe is basically constructing itself. And when you get to these common editorial spaces like chemistry, where the space of possibilities is too large to exhaust them all, you can only construct things along historically contingent paths.

Like you basically have causal chains of events that happen. to allow other things to come into existence. And that this is the way that complex objects get formed is basically on scaffolding on the past history of objects, making more complex objects, making more complex objects.

Like you basically have causal chains of events that happen. to allow other things to come into existence. And that this is the way that complex objects get formed is basically on scaffolding on the past history of objects, making more complex objects, making more complex objects.

Like you basically have causal chains of events that happen. to allow other things to come into existence. And that this is the way that complex objects get formed is basically on scaffolding on the past history of objects, making more complex objects, making more complex objects.

That idea in itself is easy to state and simple, but it has some really radical implications as far as what you think objects is the nature of the physics that would describe life. And so what assembly theory does formally is try to measure the boundary in the space of all things that, you know, chemically could exist, for example, like all possible molecules.

That idea in itself is easy to state and simple, but it has some really radical implications as far as what you think objects is the nature of the physics that would describe life. And so what assembly theory does formally is try to measure the boundary in the space of all things that, you know, chemically could exist, for example, like all possible molecules.

That idea in itself is easy to state and simple, but it has some really radical implications as far as what you think objects is the nature of the physics that would describe life. And so what assembly theory does formally is try to measure the boundary in the space of all things that, you know, chemically could exist, for example, like all possible molecules.

Where is the boundary above which we should say these things are too complex to happen outside of an evolutionary chain of events, outside of selection? And we formalized that with two observables. One of them is the copy number of the object. So how many of the object did you observe? And the second one is what's the minimal number of recursive steps to make it?

Where is the boundary above which we should say these things are too complex to happen outside of an evolutionary chain of events, outside of selection? And we formalized that with two observables. One of them is the copy number of the object. So how many of the object did you observe? And the second one is what's the minimal number of recursive steps to make it?

Where is the boundary above which we should say these things are too complex to happen outside of an evolutionary chain of events, outside of selection? And we formalized that with two observables. One of them is the copy number of the object. So how many of the object did you observe? And the second one is what's the minimal number of recursive steps to make it?

So if you start from elementary building blocks like bonds for molecules and you put them together and then you take things you've made already and build up to the object, what's the shortest number of steps you had to take? And what Lee's been able to show in the lab with his team is that for organic chemistry, it's about 15 steps.

So if you start from elementary building blocks like bonds for molecules and you put them together and then you take things you've made already and build up to the object, what's the shortest number of steps you had to take? And what Lee's been able to show in the lab with his team is that for organic chemistry, it's about 15 steps.

So if you start from elementary building blocks like bonds for molecules and you put them together and then you take things you've made already and build up to the object, what's the shortest number of steps you had to take? And what Lee's been able to show in the lab with his team is that for organic chemistry, it's about 15 steps.

And then you only see molecules that, you know, the only molecules that we observe that are past that threshold are ones that are in life. And in fact, one of the things I'm trying to do with this idea of like trying to actually quantify the origin of life as a transition is in like a phase transition assembly theory is actually be able to explain why that boundary is where it is.

And then you only see molecules that, you know, the only molecules that we observe that are past that threshold are ones that are in life. And in fact, one of the things I'm trying to do with this idea of like trying to actually quantify the origin of life as a transition is in like a phase transition assembly theory is actually be able to explain why that boundary is where it is.