263 - Sara Imari Walker: Astrobiology, Aliens, and the Origin of Life

Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. In this episode, Robinson and Sara discuss the physics that makes life possible. More particularly, they discuss assembly theory, the growing field of astrobiology, the difficulties of defining life, and where we are most likely to find aliens. Sara’s latest book is Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence (Riverhead Books, 2024).Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2eOUTLINE00:00 Introduction00:35 The Connection Between Physics and Biology07:15 Philosophy and the Origin of Life10:03 Is the Selfish Gene Theory Wrong?22:17 On Her Work with Lee Cronin38:47 Experiments To Discover the Origin of Life48:52 What Is Assembly Theory?01:00:42 Are Boltzmann Brains Possible?01:05:53 The Paradox of Defining Life01:31:10 Is Life a Vague Concept?01:38:13 Where Are All the Aliens?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.