Can Life Really Be Explained By Physics? (featuring Prof. Brian Cox)

[@besmart]

Life, man. What is it even?

[@christianosanjo]

Idk

[@i_GiveFRUITS]

A Game which Humans don't understand.

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

That's why started studying biology for my Advanced level examinations.

[@rylaczero3740]

What's life? I am not even sure what I am

[@lakrids-pibe]

Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans

[@rbesfe]

This channel is a key example of why publicly funded media is still so important in the digital era. The right people given the right resources can do amazing things and grow to provide so much more value to society than what was invested. Keep up the amazing work!

[@spingbay7039]

Yet, populists across the globe want to defund it :(

[@Americansikkunt]

Why don’t YOU make it, if “the value is so much more than invested”? Sounds like you’re not being honest…..

[@patstaysuckafreeboss8006]

@@Americansikkunt Imagine being a troll and sucking at it lol

[@slcpunk2740]

@@Americansikkunt what a dumb question, not everyone is an educator at heart or wants to make videos for KZbin 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Americansikkunt]

@@slcpunk2740 I’m just saying, if it was Objectively more valuable, everyone would be investing! Also, public funded = MY money. You don’t think I have a say in how it’s spent??

[@AutraxD]

Brian Cox is an absolute legend in the UK. Personally I love how he's always smiling. What a wonderful guy, you can feel his passion.

[@murdock6450]

The man is a fraud

[@janarends6545]

My feeble neighbour is also always smiling.

[@Why_Knott_Me]

Omg same!!

[@Engineer284]

I'm in Canada and I think the same as you. I love his shows about the the earth and universe.

[@murdock6450]

@@Engineer284 really? Lol

[@RuniDjurhuus]

On a crisp December morning in the heart of Oldham, I found myself navigating the bustling streets, bundled up against the winter chill. As I meandered through the town, sipping on a warm cup of coffee, I spotted a familiar face among the crowd - none other than physicist Brian Cox. There he was, strolling along the cobbled streets, seemingly lost in thought. Seizing the moment, I mustered the courage to approach him. "Excuse me, Dr. Cox?" I said, half expecting him to be too engrossed in the cosmic mysteries to notice a passerby. To my surprise, he looked up with a warm smile. "Yes, that's me. How can I help you?" he replied, his accent unmistakably Northern. We engaged in a delightful conversation, discussing everything from the intricacies of the cosmos to the charm of Oldham during the festive season. Brian, with his affable demeanor, shared anecdotes about growing up in the town and how its character had shaped his curiosity about the universe. As we continued our walk through the winter-kissed streets, Brian's passion for science and genuine interest in our conversation created an unexpected camaraderie. We paused at a local bakery to warm up with some freshly baked treats, and amidst the aroma of pastries, our chance encounter turned into a memorable morning of shared stories and laughter. Before parting ways, Brian left me with an inspiring thought: "Every corner of the universe has its unique beauty; you just need to take a moment to appreciate it." And so, on that cold December morning in Oldham, I not only met a brilliant physicist but also gained a newfound appreciation for the cosmic wonders hidden in the ordinary moments of life.

[@beeman2075]

Thanks for sharing your encounter meeting with Brian Cox, it was a lovely anecdote to read after watching this video. It would be a privilege to have the chance to converse with him on natural laws and physics matters, and it was heartwarming to read how approachable and affable you found him to be.

[@MrDuLukes]

Such a eloquently and beautifully written, interesting story. Thanks for sharing, I believe it's my favourite youtube comment yet.

[@cortneyrens]

How lucky to meet him! There’s so many things I would want to talk to him about if I had the chance

[@BertonMylo]

And you didn't smoke a doobie with him?

[@Songoftiffany]

How absolutely wonderful. He always has such amazing insight and seams like a delightful person .

[@freddieguillemard5994]

Professor Brian Cox has a wonderful energy, he is candid, full of curiosity, joie de vivre, compassion, passion - he is so alive - and his passion and all is contagious…. Thank you…..

[@MedlifeCrisis]

Meanwhile this evening I did a (bad) impression of Prof Cox on stage to a few hundred people. And even though it was so dodgy, everyone knew who it was as he’s such a legend. Nice to hear him talk about Sagan, as many see him as a modern version

[@besmart]

I also did an impression of him. It was cut from the video for being so so bad

[@supsm6627]

Whoa, only 10 likes and one reply?

[@NickRoman]

I looked up Brian Cox after watching a guy doing impressions, one of which was him. In doing so, I find this video from just yesterday/today, which I would probably have eventually seen in my suggestions and watched anway. Cool intersection there.

[@michaelmoore1403]

Jo is awesome, Brian is incredible but you at Medlife Crisis is amazing

[@0awareness763]

@@besmart I'm sure the people on Patreon would love to it.

[@williamburts5495]

He said, "what we learn in school about what is life is totally insufficient in describing what it actually is." how true.

[@sanjosemike3137]

And in the same breath, he will also tell you that the complexity of life is just a matter of "chance" but will not describe the various steps necessary for that to happen. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

[@williamburts5495]

@@sanjosemike3137 That's because they don't know what life actually is.

I learned most of what was discussed in this video at school

[@DavidCarter-ib3vw]

Good point!!!

[@willieodea83]

When I was young I read a book called..The origin of life..I think..it said all this stuff and more.. being very naive at the time I was really expecting some incredible revelation. But like this video I was told nothing. Book ended with some theory about life originating in outer space. As if this information was in some way answering the mystery. He sticks to the script and will not entertain some theories that are now gaining traction

[@gabor6259]

If you're lazing around, you consume less energy, you're making the universe disordered at a slower rate. So next time someone calls you lazy, tell them you're just postponing the universe's demise.

[@scy1038]

I think you missed about 12 minutes of this video lmao

[@SunnyAquamarine2]

Hilarious

[@spoofy0760]

@@scy1038 wdym, the video talks about how you existing is hastening the heat death of the universe, however insignificant it might be

[@carolineleneghan119]

Mind blown

[@shienkalitvinov]

Chaos theory?

[@FWtravels]

I think about this all the time and it has made me realize that nothing really matters and I choose to let go of many of the things that I once dwelled on and worried about. I now know how lucky I am to exist at all and I will be positive and grateful and enjoy all the small things for my short time observing this universe.

[@servusdedurantem]

Its not true to say nothing matters there is evil in the world and this statement makes it less important to protect the good

[@sel5595]

only cowards say this. all of the great minds discovered things because they wanted to get to the end of the question, not throw it away and say "nothing matters i am living on a rock", also, that view towards life is obnoxious, as things do matter, life does. dont be close-minded.

[@FWtravels]

@@sel5595 what I meant is that I have decided to let go of so many of the things that brought me great sorrow and mental suffering. Of course there are many things that do matter but to realize that our time here is finite, helps us to understand what is important and what is wasted anguish. I should have worded it differently because of course some things do matter.

[@carmamd]

You sir, are a superlative teacher! And so is Professor Cox. This has been one of the most fascinating interviews and KZbin presentations that I have seen. But then, I’m an old man, an old medical doctor of a man, who has had the pleasure of experiencing many good and great teachers in his lifetime. And learning new things, for me, remains one of my greatest pleasures. And this border/ conjunction between the life sciences and the physical sciences is one of my greatest fascinations. I am so very glad that I found your channel and subscribed to it.

[@tonyleukering8832]

"... learning new things, for me, remains one of my greatest pleasures." Hear, hear! My life's motto is "When you've stopped learning, it's time to die." Fortunately, for me, learning is the single greatest aspect of living.

[@semaj_5022]

Much respect for keeping that passion for learning alive. I hope I never lose it, myself.

[@leiladarling4495]

Hi, Dr. Carma, It is a privilege to have studied Medicine, including up to this day. And I appreciate very much your message! On a further note, I believe the EU is lucky to have also a physician as it's President, considering that they regulated AI first of all, showing the importance of protecting Human Neurology from copy Machines. Dr Crow stated that life may have merged out of a geophysics into biophysics replication or copies of orderly stored information. Now, computers are copying our daily living activities in a sort of reverse course. Good luck to all of us. God Bless.

[@GianJin]

What a joy to see Professor Cox on, he's such a personal hero of mine.

[@prototype8137]

Why? Hes creepy and puts opinion as fact... just because someone has an accent and can speak properly doesn't mean what he says is true or valid.

[@jckgoldness]

Mine too

[@JP-xg6bv]

@@prototype8137 Prove any one thing he says is not true or valid. And I don't find him creepy, not sure why you do lol

[@mcdanjff]

@@prototype8137 you forgot Rock star.

[@DarknessIsThePath]

@@prototype8137 Maybe give a source material that shows he is genuinely creepy, otherwise that's just your own issue.

[@bodrugmaria9179]

I'm impressed how these people are staying sane while dedicating their lives to such complex questions. I'd go crazy by the time i'm reaching 30

[@mattorr2256]

Other’s take great comfort, relief, wonder and inspiration dedicating their lives to these scientific professions

[@twlightsluna2009]

Gosh I’m glad you say that because I thought I was the only one. I would be lead to an existential crisis 😂

[@alkintugsal7563]

I think dealing with such complex issues makes them appreciate nature more and they enjoy simplicity more than an ordinary person as they see the complex structure under and the simpler surface that presents itself in their eyes.

[@Why_Knott_Me]

My dad introduced me to him in high school and I have created a huge love for his shows and all he researches. Sure I don't understand it the way he does but he definitely makes complex lectures be more easily understood by people who don't major in scientific fields. Xoxo I am a 29 year old female who greatly appreciates people in the world like him

[@benynyomin5012]

if there is a girl who interest with this object, ill date her

[@ghfgxijaorgf5393]

@@benynyomin5012 but will she date you tho?

[@benynyomin5012]

@@ghfgxijaorgf5393 🥲😭, i dont know

[@ATADSP]

Brian Cox is one of my favorite science communicators. He has a way of speaking about science and the universe that is so profound and poetic. "As a fraction of the lifespan of the universe as measured from the beginning to the evaporation of the last black hole, life as we know it is only possible for one-thousandth of a billion billion billionth, billion billion billionth, billion billion billionth, of a percent" - Brian Cox

[@ResurrectingJiriki]

Yeah, let's ask a gate keeping tool like dimm witted Cocks, what life is.. To then make it even insufferable by this other tool saying his accent makes it better and "a little unfair". You know why he, nor any other tool in this silly game they play, can't even begin to grasp that thingy called consciousness? Because they're scientific Materialists, that deny 'God' (or whatever you want to call it) to have you eventually see their scientific Materialism but finally only the State as the only authority.. #FeedTheMarxistMassesTheirPoison Ironically, consciousness and life, become obviously simple, from and Idealism perspective.

[@sassa82]

He speaks alot but his whole 'string theory' was just a waste of time.

[@richardoldfield6714]

That's not poetic, it's merely numerical stats ... the opposite of poetic.

[@luismangiaterra1031]

Cox is a cheap Sagan impersonator because he worships sagan

[@tim40gabby25]

It seems inherently unlikely that I am prodding a little screen to generate these words - which your copy of a wet kilo or so understands. Just saying.

[@Laserblade]

"We are a way for the Universe to know itself." - Carl Sagan, of course. The scientist with the heart of a poet. Excellent discussion with a favorite physicist, Professor Brian Cox. I could listen to him all day. Thank you, Be Smart, and PBS, for the thought-provoking video. Subscribed.

[@carlodave9]

He was right to. You have to resort to poetry when speaking of what Life actually IS. You can use science to explain how it manages to exist in the/this universe; but we are no closer to (and maybe further away from) understanding the incredibly weird organizing force since chemistry and biology got involved.

[@luismangiaterra1031]

@@carlodave9 Sagan didn't even have a clue about the reason and purpose of the universe.

[@TheBorwig]

The Universe being self-conscious….idk

[@JP-xg6bv]

@@TheBorwig What are you if not an extension of the universe itself?

[@JP-xg6bv]

@@luismangiaterra1031 That's because there is no real "purpose" in the philosophical or religious sense. Life is a cosmic accident.

[@Leeeo]

I swear I get goosebumps everytime he tells me to stay curious. In my mind I'm like "I will Joe. I always will"

[@Smudgerio]

“You’re radiating disorder in a cavalier fashion”. What an amazing quote!

[@bobtuckey2409]

Really enjoyed this episode Joe! Great topic to discuss with Professor Cox.

[@GOKITTYxD3STROY3R]

I absolutely love Professor Brian Cox, after watching his TedTalk about a year ago I watched as many videos of him as I could and he has incredibly increased my interest in physics and astronomy! Thank you for the great video!

[@barrysmith4674]

Have you watched all his BBC work?

[@Mike-123]

Ironically, this is not the first time that I've been told that I'm hastening the demise of the universe.

[@CarFreeSegnitz]

Are we (and life generally) really? Yes, there are cellular metabolic pathways that hasten chemical processes. But in the big picture all those chemical potentials have been put there by gravity mostly through our sun (and a tiny bit of other stars’ demise when creating transferic atoms in supernova). Our sun shines on life and the lifeless. The lifeless heats up and emits infrared. The most life can do is delay the retransmission of infrared and maybe emit it at longer wavelengths. Or burst into flames and retransmit in shorter wavelengths. Totalled up life is just a few chemical pathways that dipped its toes in the deluge of energy coming off the sun.

[@tracesprite6078]

Hi Mike, take care of yourself. You are an absolutely unique combination of atoms and molecules occurring at a very significant time in our history when our presence on this planet is at risk due to global warming. We need all hands on deck, helping to make good choices so that our extraordinary species can continue along with all the other brilliant creatures. So your planet needs you, Mike. I hope you can enjoy your life while also making your own unique contribution.

[@mochiebellina8190]

Blame your personal faults on Putin. I do.

[@luismangiaterra1031]

@@tracesprite6078 your life is meaningless and without purpose.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

You used to date her too, huh?

[@toniivanova9360]

If there's such thing as favorite scientist, Brian Cox is my guy. I love him so much. Every time I see him on the net I know I'll learn something great and I'll feel better because of his amazing smile and the obvious passion for his work. He's my comfort person. ❤

[@TheTombree]

Back when I was in highschool, we had a biology teacher (best teacher i ever had in every way) who asked the same question. He said we aint gonna do stuff from the books that day and just chill out and try and awnser this question. We where doing the same checklist and indeed quickly found exceptions. The way he did that particular class was amazing. He had 30+ annoying 15yo paying attention for 50 minutes straight. Making us try and discuss it with eachother. We usually were a load and obnoxious class but when we had Biology we paid attention especially that day. Sorry for the long useless rant. Had a flashback that took me back 13 years 0-0

[@deepdude4719]

All worthy

[@sion8]

It isn't useless.

[@WarriorPocky]

That's beautiful. If you can still talk to that teacher, do thank them and let them know how much they have impacted you.

[@redmed10]

Just curious . Did you pass in your biology class? Did you take it on further in your education. It's great to have a general discussion about the subject and that can be fun. But you need to also learn the nuts and bolts of the subject and that requires work which may not be so much fun.

[@winstongrettum3412]

LIFEThe principle of life or living; the animate existence, or term of animate existence, of an individual. As to earthly, physical life, things possessing life generally have the capabilities of growth, metabolism, response to external stimuli, and reproduction

[@Hochspitz]

I loved Cosmos. My kids were pretty young at the time that show was on TV and its time slot was rather late at night in Western Australia. My children were so fascinated by Carl Sagan's presentations that we had to allow them to stay up way past their bed time and what they didn't understand became such fun family discussions And so many years later my niece studying medicine at ANU in Canberra was lucky enough to attend Brian Cox's open air event at the university. Great discussion, thank you!

[@bruns.like.spoons9251]

I'm a non-parent (and admittedly Scrooge towards kids) but your comment is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[@icedclips725]

Must be smart kids.

[@Petteri82]

Something funny I just noticed. Aside from looking sort of alike both Brian Cox and Shigeru Miyamoto seem to almost be incapable of speaking without smiling. Being experts in completely different fields both just seem so curious and enjoying what they do. What a joy to listen to these guys and just have them around.

[@nahuelcutrera]

there is something about brian's voice that is like morphin, everything is gonna be all right when you hear it, everything is greater than we are and you just give in... fantastic voice! fantastic guy.

[@alstud1]

Brian is a very wonderful explainer. Breaking down very complex answers into language we not so complex people can understand.

[@sanjosemike3137]

Ask him how or why enough carbon exists in the Universe for life to exists? I will save you the trouble. He has NO explanation for it. Ask him about the chance elements of chirality. He can't explain that either, even if he knows what it is. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

[@LoyaltotheNightsky]

​@@sanjosemike3137 Hey San Jose Mike (No longer in CA) I'm sleepy, I'm gonna go to bed.

[@rosemarycrane5137]

Yes, it is a joy listening to Brain. He also seems humble and I always feel more enlightened after listening to Brian.

[@semaj_5022]

​@@sanjosemike3137 You forget how stars work, bud?

[@JustinWarkentin]

I think a key component of the definition of life has to include the ability to propagate information with changes. Crystals can grow, things can propagate structure and information, but I think to be "alive" in the sense that we think of, the ability to change and adapt to promote continued propagation over time is a must. Reactions that are indifferent or incapable of doing so are definitely not alive.

[@suelane3628]

Don't forget that Linnaeus nearly classified crystals using his system for living things.

[@sion8]

@@suelane3628 🤨He did?

[@MichaBerger]

Jeremy England would make for a GREAT follow-up interview. From the introduction to Quanta's interview: . Jeremy England, a 31-year-old assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has derived a mathematical formula that he believes explains this capacity. The formula, based on established physics, indicates that when a group of atoms is driven by an external source of energy (like the sun or chemical fuel) and surrounded by a heat bath (like the ocean or atmosphere), it will often gradually restructure itself in order to dissipate increasingly more energy. This could mean that under certain conditions, matter inexorably acquires the key physical attribute associated with life. “You start with a random clump of atoms, and if you shine light on it for long enough, it should not be so surprising that you get a plant,” England said. England’s theory is meant to underlie, rather than replace, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection....

[@mortified776]

I had the same thought! Hopefully that can be organised soon.

[@randlker2152]

As a follow up, a philosophical standpoint on life is want I want like an exurb1a video. As told in the video, it's upto the poets to define life🙂

[@peterallman8474]

@@randlker2152 ah, but what defines a poet?

[@timmy3822]

Wonderful interview. I can safely say if I were to bump into Prof Cox in the street I’d be geeking out like crazy, wanting to ask him so many things whilst at the same time feeling wholly inadequate for his time and talents.

[@albertleibold1415]

He is not able to explain life purely by means of physics.

[@ikissdogs3684]

same

[@albertleibold1415]

Obviously, life cannot really be explained by physics alone.

[@adamlitchfield3371]

Is this about D-Ream?

[@albertleibold1415]

These two brains were definitely not able to explain life by physics alone.

[@danconser6709]

Very thought provoking video. I've always found Brian Cox's viewpoints VERY Interesting. He sees the same things as other scientists, but he helps us think about it just a little differently than many, which can help us think differently ourselves. Fascinating!

[@sirholycow]

Now this is gonna be a great vid. I always love listening to Brian, his documentaries are undoubtedly some of my favourites.

[@intelligentsia9493]

It's a video that makes me hate the existential imperative.

[@Gibbypastrami]

@@osmosisjones4912 well, you fell under the illusion because you detected a pattern of some sort, but seeing through the illusion just means you saw the "true" pattern, you saw a different pattern, where did objectivity come in? For example, I saw a video of a cardboard cartoon crocodile sculpture, if you liked at it from the front it looks like a 3D crocodile, from the back it looks like an inverted collage of cardboard From one perspective, an image, from a different perspective, a different image There isn't an objective perspective, you can view it from multiple angles, no angle is "correct" thats an opinion not a fact

[@AlbertaGeek]

@@osmosisjones4912 We can always count on you for a stupid take.

[@JP-xg6bv]

@@Gibbypastrami To add to that the way another person perceives that optical illusion is going to br different. Maybe you and I see an animal, but they see a plant. Both are valid because you can explain to the person "Look at these angles and colors, see the plant/animal now?" And if you look long enough, you'll discern a second image out of the first and csn alternate between them at will.

[@judethaddeus9856]

This channel never disappoints! Even when topics I’m not necessarily interested in are discussed I enjoy the episode and I ALWAYS learn something!

[@justicegusting2476]

When you think of where you were before you were born, it will give you an idea of where you are going after you die.

[@Cmkrs34]

Not me. Im still fearing my consciousness will survive and my childhood brainwashing of hell will kick in. I need parts of my brain deprogrammed so this fear goes. Philosophers Doctors and Physicists and Hindus who believe in God or Reincarnation scare me no matter how much i tell myself God or eternal consciousness is bullshit.

[@lukak1774]

Memories of another person's life precedes my birth, maybe reincarnation is true after all.

[@justicegusting2476]

@@lukak1774 Highly unlikely.

[@lukak1774]

@@justicegusting2476 I suppose we'll find out after we die. Or not at all.

[@lottogaz8573]

Hey Brian when is our habitable zone going to end ? You know we have been in our habitable zone for over 100 million years and every day the sun gets bigger and hotter! And the malovich cycle and solar maximums and solar minimums but you still call global warming our fault

[@pushkar_65]

"How do we posses consciousness?" is a question that still blows my mind

[@Napoleonic_S]

consciousness is just the next stage of information storing and processing isn't it?

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@osmosisjones4912 Man: You sit here, dear. Wife: All right. Man: Morning! Waitress: Morning! Man: Well, what've you got? Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam; Vikings: Spam spam spam spam... Waitress: ...spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam... Vikings: Spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Waitress: ...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam. Wife: Have you got anything without spam? Waitress: Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it. Wife: I don't want ANY spam! Man: Why can't she have egg bacon spam and sausage?

[@tarancehill651]

Same. Consciousness being pure energy that we somehow contain but not really control. So weiiiirrd.

[@albert6157]

@@tarancehill651 consciousness is not energy, however it is a process that requires energy like any process and emergent property.

[@deepdude4719]

Thanks to computing.

[@jamesmoore4023]

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller

[@SimonBrisbane]

Timeless wisdom and hilarity in one film.

[@Obakawaii]

I can't remember if I knew you were a doctor of biology, but that's super cool! I'm always excited to find when people really studied on a subject can bring energy and knowledge in such a way that a broader audience can enjoy the subject as well.

[@steveuible5915]

Joe, You are a National Treasure. Thank you for all the wisdom you bring to us.

[@JimboBeeso]

This was a great show. I was pretty much aware of all the facts, but these guys ordered them in an interesting way. Like life does.

[@albertleibold1415]

Life did not emerge on its own.

[@bipolarbear9917]

When it comes to the question of human meaning, Carl Sagan's explanation is as good as any, "We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself".

[@Lone_Star86]

Precisely. Life is a by product of the universe . No different from stars, galaxies and rocks, however it gets interesting when we start talking about awareness and consciousness. Is the universe just having a human experience?

[@bipolarbear9917]

​@@Lone_Star86 I don't think so. I think humans are having a cosmic experience. What about the possibility of other sentient life in the cosmos? Are we alone? Are we the first? Or are we just one of many sentient conscious beings in our Universe or a grander Multiverse? Who knows? As intelligent as we think we are, we still only have some limited understanding of only 5% of observable matter. We don't know what dark matter or dark energy is, or if there are as yet more undiscovered forces of nature. And what is reality? What is time? Are there other dimensions beyond our 3 physical dimensions and one temporal dimension of time? We don't know how our Universe came into being, or whether there was something before the 'Big Bang', or even whether this is a simulation, or a hologram. We don't know how quantum really works, or what is truly fundamental. We don't know the origin of life, and we don't even know what is consciousness, only that we appear to be. So we still have a long way to go on our journey of discovery. There are still many mysteries, but that's what makes life fun and interesting.

[@fluentpiffle]

@@Lone_Star86 The Universe IS 'experience', in all possible forms.. spaceandmotion

[@SimonBrisbane]

Yet that’s not a satisfying explanation. It’s the equivalent of throwing your hands up and conceding “I don’t know”. The search continues..

[@fluentpiffle]

@@SimonBrisbane Few people are ever satisfied with truth.. What if it turns out to be something very unsatisfactory? Will you just keep looking for something ‘else’ that does not exist?

[@johncenile8044]

I got a degree in biology and am going back to get a degree in engineering and this episode made me have a nerdgasm

[@deepdude4719]

I know how you feel

[@grahamhill7845]

I had one of the others this morning and similar to what Brian was saying I had disorder, in the tissue box department

[@Lagerfanny-g7e]

I have a degree in engineering but would like a biology degree.

[@winstongrettum3412]

@@osmosisjones4912 no they are not

[@SpotterVideo]

Biology is very simple. Go into a lab and make a living, reproducing cell from the raw chemicals. There is just one little problem. Nobody has ever done it before. How did it happen by random chance? (I have a degree in Biology.) At this point in time, Physicists have yet to explain what part of the atom causes gravitation. We know matter causes a curvature of space-time, but we do not know why it occurs or how it is related to the other fundamental forces of nature.

[@francesc1331]

Just by chance, I happened to watch this segment on Easter. I love the gift of science to give my mind something to do, something to wonder about. For me, the important lesson is to "keep seeking and you shall find". All roads eventually lead to the same Goal. Enjoy! And Happy Easter.

[@rachanachowdhury4162]

Why isn't a content like this more popular? This should be absolute essential 😮. Mind-blowing indeed

[@dscarmo]

More than 1M views is pretty popular all things considered

[@patman142]

no matter how we try and explain it, we still have to use language and abstract concepts that can be understood by the human mind so straight away there is probably a limit as to what we can comprehend with our human brains

[@ws6778]

What if concrete reality is just a metaphor that represents an abstract truth?

[@Raiddd__]

That’s assuming the information in our universe that led to our consciousness was put there by accident and random chance and not by a being with a mind and the intent for us to comprehend it with said consciousness. Just a thought. I’m not religious.

[@oldpossum57]

I think brain architecture is more problematic than the symbolic languages.

[@oldpossum57]

@@Raiddd__ Highly unlikely. If we were “designed” to do physics, cosmology, etc…why are we so bad at it? Whereas our slow, halting progress that results in effective but bizarrely counter intuitive models…that fits with our Brian’s having evolved through nature’s inefficient ways.

[@NatzKulz]

Thanks I've been feeling quite existential today, this is perfect.

[@bragagd1618]

what saddens me the most is the fact that we'll never know what our race is capable of after a million years or more in the future 😢😢

[@stefansneden1957]

nothing like a little existential thought to make you feel alive.

[@fluentpiffle]

Truth is the only kind of 'perfection'.. spaceandmotion

[@vhawk1951kl]

What you mean by "existential"?

[@XnonTheGod]

Why people get existential Crisis? Seems like weird thing to me... People say why are we here? Because we are, by evolution over millions of years What's the meaning of life? Objective meaning is survival, subjective meaning is what you want it to be Not very hard questions...

[@jonathanbrooks9768]

Id love to see a genuine sit down conversation between you and Professor Cox, would definitely be an interesting watch

[@Mithrandir39]

Love anything with Brian Cox in it.

[@Robles551]

I learn so much from him!

[@sauskeuzumaki121]

@9:25, Brian just explained the rankine cycle in two sentences. For someone who is a chemical engineering person, that was really crazy

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

I love how Brian Cox comments on Pluto’s planetary status, “I don’t care.”

[@gpa1978]

Love how Brian talks ...the only one that keeps all my attention when talking, wish I had internet 40 years ago to know about lal of this, probably would have a differet career

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

Brian Cox did Wonders of Life, the greatest biological documentary of all time.

[@Robles551]

I really enjoyed that documentary!

[@catalinlulea]

Brian Cox as always, doesn’t disappoint… He’s very deep and thoughtful in a very accessible way…

[@lewboy1]

Don't always agree with what he says politically but what a bloke. We have a lot yo be thankful for. Science communicators connect plebs like me to the universe ✨️

[@memethief_]

I once asked my biology teacher in 9th standard that what is life? he said anything which do reproduction, breathing, movement etc, which was a definition given in our book but what I really meant was how some non-living things together creates life , so I again asked the the same question in more deep way and guess what, our teacher and our class representative stood and said same definition to me again, making me look like a fool in front of whole class and as an introvert it was not good for me but it didn't bother me much , as I thought that all of them just accept whatever is told to them even teachers without questioning and knowing how things actually works in world or they just don't want to(as they are dumb and just spending there life) and they just don't know what to answer to my question.. After that i didn't't bother to ask anything to anyone and find my own question's answer myself which is satisfying to me..

[@adithyagolwalkar7896]

When sadhguru talks about life, evolution etc there are many people like your teacher who troll him using textbook definition and call him a scam.

Your teacher was worried in making sure you knew the answer to what would be in the exam, not satisfying your unrelated curiosity

[@naveenramkumar6123]

I would like to point out some inconsistencies in this video. Please correct me if I am wrong. 1. The second law of thermodynamics does not say "The entropy of a closed system CAN NEVER DECREASE", it used to say that until a brilliant scientist by the name J. Maxwell proved that it is possible for closed system to decrease in entropy, just that it is not highly likely to. So the second law of thermodynamics now states "The entropy of a closed system TENDS to a MAXIMUM" instead. Just wanted to point that out. 2. The energy is always conserved from the beginning of the BIG BANG to till now. If that were true, then atomic bombs and the sun would not work. Now we have the Mass-Energy equivalence that the Mass-Energy is always conserved from the beginning of the BIG BANG. we have just lost some mass in order to create energy but the mass-energy was conserved.

[@lewboy1]

I love watching videos like this. Being inspired and then forgetting everything 3 weeks later and watching again!

[@xxxchurch100]

So “non life produces life” …. This has never been demonstrated nor can it be replicated . Therefore these hypotheses are not scientific ,

[@bobbell4040]

😂

[@theodord.3586]

Real happy to see this guy. Better if it can happen more often.

[@jineeshpr]

I always argued that if we can find the origin of life it should be through a combination of research on biology, physics, geology and behavioural science. This will remove inherent bias. Good to see that we are slowly leaning in that direction

[@mikeav6056]

is the right direction

[@kenpevahouse2154]

I don't know how to describe the profound impact THIS VIDEO had on me. It is hard to understate how well the content produced by "Be Smart" in a conversation with Brian Cox conveyed concisely the journey from the Big Bang to complex life via entropy. It was an epiphany for me. Now, I am so curious as to the nature of how protons fit into this equation (I realize that you indicated it is very complex). I also derived that entropy is a great mystery in may respects, yet it is one of the most important fundamentals of the universe. Thank you so much.

[@albertleibold1415]

Please explain in simple terms how life came from non-living matter.

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

I love how bunch of bipedal monkeys existing on chunk of rock revolving around a star in an seemingly infinite universe trying to answer most fundemental question in the universe.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

If you’re referring to humans, we’re closer to apes, not monkeys. Easy way to tell: monkeys have tails, apes don’t.

[@oldpossum57]

But is it the most “fundamental” question. Could it be a distraction Z?

[@nerd_alert927]

How did I miss a video with Brian Cox in it!?!!! He's one of my favorite Physicist.

[@Thathumanoverthere1701]

They are always sneaking in without KZbin realizing that I want these videos IMMEDIATELY😆. Brian Cox is the GOAT.

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

That's why started studying biology for my Advanced level examinations.

[@karenfry5538]

Maths is applied logic. Physics is applied maths. Chemistry is applied physics and maths. Biology is applied physics, chemistry and maths. I love looking at biology questions from the chemistry and physics perspective. This discussion continues to fascinate me. I think of life as a very complicated series of chemical reactions. Each reaction tries to reverse entropy locally but has to increase the etropy of the universe. We play at reversing those reactions time and time again, but eventually they reach a conclusion and we die.

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

please make more videos with brian cox. he is awesome

[@AndriyAndriyAndriy]

Love Brian Cox, thanks for this video ❤️

[@UlrichDrive]

"The term autopoiesis (from Greek αὐτo- (auto-) 'self', and ποίησις (poiesis) 'creation, production') refers to a system capable of producing and maintaining itself by creating its own parts. " - wikipedia The term was coined by Humberto Maturana and then ignored by everybody else. It contrasts with "allopoiesis", a system created to be used like a tool.

[@Chr0n0l0gic]

Thanks!

[@besmart]

You bet!

[@Alec_Reaper]

Brian Cox! Awesome

[@Foraminid]

So fun, this episode. I love your work, Joe. And this is the episode of Be Smart that I've been waiting for! I'm a biologist with a fascination for cosmology, holograph theory, etc... I love the stuff from 11:18 to 13:02--the Pandora's box, the hologram if you will! In other words, the broader implications that entropy has through space/time on biological outcomes (that we see and feel and study and wonder about). More videos about biological information systems intersecting with the influence of cosmological forces please! 😃😋

[@sanjosemike3137]

Can you explain how proteins "automatically" select the correct chirality of amino acids in their synthesis? Out of the potential millions of choices? I assume as a biologist you have an inside track. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)

[@MrCesarification]

Your content is always amazing, but this has to be one your best ever right here. I’d say it’s up there with Veritasium’s relativistic gravity one.

[@Imoldman]

Amazing that these two guys can help me understand a sidgen of what they talked about. Not much compared to them mind you, but a million times more than my dumb a$$ knew before. Thank you guys.

[@SamButler22]

I've never thought about the whole conservation of energy thing in terms of extrapolating all the way back to the big bang, and that there's been a finite amount energy since the beginning. That's gunna stick with me

[@TheMyguitarisblue]

What really got me was that we're simply "swirls in the coffee". That's probably the most elegant way anyone could have possibly put it. That, and I laughed out loud when he said we're personally responsible for the end of time.

[@carlodave9]

Alan Watts, the thinker & spoken word artist, long ago described life and ourselves as "little curlicues" at the edge of the Big Bang. Coffee is an ok analogy, but he used smashing a bottle of ink on the floor. Disorder at the center, entropy spreading out from center, then little drops and squiggles (order) at the edges. He described the Big Bang as simply the birth of Now, which physicists don't disagree with. Only through meditation do we crazy apes get to experience what the Big Bang ACTUALLY is. You have to look to art and philosophy to help contextualize what science discovers because science -- god bless it! -- gets no further to understanding Life or consciousness or Now, even as it looks closer & further into the tools and components. The mystery only gets larger and less knowable.

[@saifabidalbloushi]

I really miss the title "its okay to be smart" it was the perfect representation of joe and this channel in general 🥺

[@patricial.3929]

Do you know when they changed it or why? I haven't kept up with the channel recently and was a bit surprised at the name change.

[@saifabidalbloushi]

@@patricial.3929 i honestly dont know why they changed it

[@NTdredd]

@@patricial.3929 He said that channel's name... "it's okay to be smart" is really big, so he made it shorter...

[@patricial.3929]

@@NTdredd ah, I see. Though I liked their original name I can see why they'd choose to shorten it. Thank you!

[@jourdansarpy4935]

@@patricial.3929 he also said that he didn't want to just say "it's okay to be smart." he wanted to challenge his audience to actually be smart.

[@Saniru_Kodithuwakku]

please make more contexts with brian cox. he is awesome.

[@intelligentsia9493]

@@osmosisjones4912 Our brains are dangerous to our selves because they carry memories, and you are talking about optical illusions to explain the miserable life?

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@intelligentsia9493 He’s a spammer

[@DanielBrown-sn9op]

Well done. I believe that physics, and science can explain the 'what' and the 'hows' of life, but not the 'who', or the 'whys'. Unlimited profundity.

[@oldpossum57]

The who and why questions may have no definite answers. I think you make your own adventure.

[@syzygy808]

Wonderful video and continued education for humankind. I’d love to see you do a video on latest in quantum biology! And please get Jim Al Khalili for an interview!

[@MsKaryCat]

Inmediatlly my new favorite video on your channel! Love to you and Dr. Cox 😍

[@haroldbrown6630]

I would love to have an hour of Mr. Cox talking. Uninterrupted.

[@patrickboudreau3846]

I love both these men. They are lucky to be passionate about their work and still interested by hard to resolve questions. The origin of life has always interested me but, at this time, we haven’t a single clue how it started. All we really know is that it’s eventually going to end. Such is the life of our sun.

[@chriswhitt6618]

This was excellent. Fascinating.

[@SamButler22]

Professor Cox is awesome, national treasure, Manc hero, actual rock star

[@animalpeeps]

I'm so excited to see his show soon! This is the kind of stuff I contemplate so often, but don't have too many sources to discuss to or hear someone else cover these things. So interesting, it all is.

[@glkification]

Brian: "Are you saying that it's not the inherent poetry in my construction of sentences [...] it's just the accent?" Also Brian: "If you imagine a cup of coffee and you delicately put the cream on top [...] we have created order. [...] and it mixes up so it becomes more disordered. But in the process, you get complex structures, swirls in the cream, swirls in the coffee. [...] We're swirls in the coffee. We're almost like an inevitable consequence of the march from order to disorder." 🤩

[@shanenspitaler5790]

Well actually I know the answer to this. My mate Pete one night was on the piss and told me he invented life. Normally I'd dismiss it but he was right about who'd win the soccer match as well as the hockey game So I don't question him

[@SimonBrisbane]

And it’s a far more palatable explanation for scientific minds which have decided to exclude deity as a possibility for all that is seen and unseen. Did Pete have anything riding on the game?

[@h7opolo]

deep and intriguing, an intellectual oasis.

[@JusNoBS420]

Brian Cox is like a science rockstar!!

[@nickidaisydandelion4044]

Yes and he looks like Steven Tyler.

[@javafromjava]

He was keyboard player for the group D:Ream which had a #1 hit in the UK with Things Can Only Get Better, so I guess he is :)

[@tableface77]

@@javafromjava Don't forget his "big hair" rock band days in Dare before that:-)

[@sacredgeometry]

Like Brian May?

[@heatheredwards2982]

I love Brian Cox and his amazing energy for science and teaching. He has such a beautiful poetic way of describing the universe and is ways of life and destruction.

[@starfishsystems]

Given our current scientific knowledge, we have good reason to conclude that physics explains chemistry, and chemistry explains biochemistry, and biochemistry explains signal processing. It's somewhat more tentative to suggest that signal processing explains cognition and cognition explains consciousness, because our understanding of the latter two is still incomplete. But we aren't fundamentally stuck, it's just that these are exceptionally complex processes that take extraordinary effort to investigate. With each of these analytical layers we see significant jumps in emergent complexity, which should remind us not to indulge in fallacious thinking, in particular the Fallacy of Composition. It would be clearly incorrect, for example, to claim that chemistry is "nothing more than" physics. It is an elaboration or consequence of physics, certainly, but with very interesting features. Similarly a stick is "nothing more than" a stick, until it serves as a lever to develop mechanical advantage. So I'm a little bit concerned that misunderstandings can arise when Brian Cox goes from physics to life to consciousness all in one go. It could be misinterpreted as suggesting that consciousness is a fundamental property of physics. This is a real danger, given that his colleague Roger Penrose is prepared to claim exactly that on no evidence. Penrose instead offers an Argument from Ignorance fallacy. This is almost bound to happen if you skip all the intermediate layers and look to physics for the mechanism of consciousness. Not finding it there, however, doesn't warrant concluding that in principle it must be even more fundamental. It would be better to start, as cognitive scientists do, by noticing that most cognitive processes are unconscious. We also have to be precise in what we mean by consciousness, so that we don't end up in some kind of ambiguous Equivocation Fallacy. Often it's better to set consciousness aside as a special case, and deal with cognition first. As soon as we do this, we can see that cognitive complexity lies on a continuum. Much remains to be investigated here, but there is no fundamental mystery to it that begs for some supernatural explanation. It's simply the case that basic neurochemistry not only turns out to be a good way to do basic signal processing, but it also composes into complex neurochemistry that can do complex signal processing. Now our task is to understand how that complexity works.

[@albertleibold1415]

Your thoughtful comment can never be explained with a purely physical approach.

[@drsatan9617]

@@albertleibold1415 why not?

[@albertleibold1415]

Example of a pathological disorder caused by mutations: Spinal muscular atrophy is a group of inherited disorders that cause progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Gene alterations (mutations) in the SMN1 and VAPB genes cause SMA.

[@G_Singh222]

I think you’re conflating personality and emotions with consciousness, consciousness (awareness) is being aware of those emotions, our tools can only detect brain activity which correlates with emotions and body movements, not the awareness behind it. So consciousness is still in the realm of supernatural.

[@drsatan9617]

@@G_Singh222 it literally isn't though. All beings which can be proven to be self aware/conscious are natural beings The fact we don't understand how consciousness works right now doesn't mean the only possible way it could work is magic. Just like how once upon a time no one could explain lightning without a god lol

[@crablord7934]

Professor Cox is my favorite science communicator, great seeing him on here.

[@davepeterschmidt5818]

There is a definition of what life is. I don't believe there is a "meaning" to life. Life means only what each individual chooses to make it mean.

[@vhawk1951kl]

Does the word" life" evoke no associations in your associative apparatus, for what else is meaning?

[@XnonTheGod]

Objective meaning: survival Subjective meaning: whatever you want it to be!

[@deadwalking100]

A fascinating question explored, and will continue to be for some considerable time. It is so great to see such excellent guests on such scientific programs as this being made. You struck gold to get Brian Cox, well done! Thank you, keep up the brilliant work team. Be smart and stay curious 👍🚀🔬🔭🔎🧪

[@operon4218]

If the entire world was covered in the conditions that allowed the first cell to originate, what were the chances of it happening multiple times? If it did, the implications of alien life seem to increase drastically. Maybe instead of just looking for a world that's similar to ours now, we could find a world that is similar to ours when life first emerged.

[@annk.8750]

Life arose under vastly different conditions, so such a world wouldn't be of much use to us NOW...

[@granthurlburt4062]

That is what exobiologists do. That is why they investigate some of the moons of Jupiter. This is why it is so exciting to find evidence of water on mars.

[@johncenile8044]

We are taught in college that the definition of life is still debated to this day

[@intelligentsia9493]

Yeah hell yeah that a big dose of pessimism

[@davorjuretic2041]

Yes

[@treefrog3349]

More programs like this are desperately needed to counter the "magical thinking" that seems to be proliferating all around us,

[@zucc4764]

@@jeffmckinnon5842 "magical thinking" is baseless misappropriations of science and unfounded belief aka pseudoscience. parading hypotheses without experimentation, unprovable assertions, and other such nonsense rarely give way to real discoveries

[@arthurdixon5890]

At almost 74 years old my thoughts are moving towards the metaphysical side of life. A great video - thank you 😊

[@adam2aces]

This video is beyond outstanding! Thank you so much! I'm afraid that for much of the people in my life what you described about ATP will be way over their head, but I enjoyed it!😆 that book you recommended by Nick Lane was outstanding!

[@scottkidder9046]

I don’t know if this helps, but I always thought air pressure was the easiest analogy for entropy and how life harnesses the transition from order to disorder as well as why life is a net increase in entropy rather than a decrease in entropy. If you pump air into an air balloon, it takes energy to do that. It’s hard to blow up a balloon. But once you have, you have effectively placed a lot of air in one location. If you look at the air in the room as a whole, you’ve taken some of it and organized it. Now, there’s a place with lots of air in one place rather than a normal amount of air everywhere. You also intuitively know that the air molecules don’t like being organized like this. They don’t like being shoved into places unevenly so that there’s a bunch of air in one place and not a lot of air everywhere else. You know that if you let the air in the balloon back out, that air will travel out of the ballon and push the balloon through the air. It’s this event where the air is going from the balloon to the outside room that we’re talking about. That is the energy life uses… and indeed what everything in the universe uses. Notice that during the whole thing, no air was lost. The only thing that happened was that we took the air from the room and shoved it into a small space, and then the air came back out of the balloon. This is exactly what is happening when we talk about anything using energy. We create a gradient, in this case, a pressure gradient. All we need is to separate a system into two and then start trying organize. In this case, we had a bunch of air molecules zooming around randomly and we were able to take some of them and put them in a balloon so that the density of air molecules inside the balloon was greater than the density outside. And because of entropy, those molecules will want to be distributed evenly with equal density inside the balloon and outside. That’s what pressure is. You could imagine using the air the comes out of the ballon to spin a little plastic windmill, and indeed you can. That’s usable energy, when the air in the ballon goes back into the room. Biological systems tend to do this by using membranes as their “balloon” or as their barrier that separates the inside from the outside. Instead of trying to get a bunch of air molecules inside by pumping air into themselves, they instead try to get ions like protons or calcium or potassium ions. Just like the balloon, when they pump these ions into themselves using molecular machines, they can use the energy that results from those ions flowing back outside the membrane when they open channels, just like we can use the energy from the air in the balloon traveling back out of the balloon.

[@dominicprei1484]

You are on some Brian cox sh*t fr Great analogy

[@lingwong1767]

Very good explanation. I'm more interested in the beginning of life like who or what made the membranes and the intelligence behind the management of the ion pumping. Can you help?

[@3zdayz]

At a universe level, the second law of thermodynamics really stops applying as a general rule. Gravity is really good at bringing order out of disorder - planets are a lot more ordered than their accretion disks were. Even larger things like suns, once something collects enough mass, I'm sure at some point it spontaneously ignites and starts turning that order back into disorder as the star emits light in random directions.

[@TheMyguitarisblue]

Like he said, at a local level you can turn disorder into order, but it comes at the cost of returning even more disorder to the rest of the universe outside of the local environment. The whole idea of entropy is that it holds true on the level of the entire universe

[@Pragya-131]

It’s really mind boggling to think about life with a perspective of physics. Greatful to the ideas shared.

[@lordemed1]

Life...it sure beats the alternative.

[@subrinmukhia3129]

We are not here to know the meaning of life. We are here to experience of being alive.

[@SkyRiver1]

18:03 "At what point do you decide that's the first living thing?" . . . At the point were the the survival instinct appeared. Now if you think that inanimate matter spontaneously developed a survival instinct, well, that is what I would call a leap of faith.

[@albertleibold1415]

You are correct. 👍 Genome stability is a feature of every organism to preserve and faithfully transmit the genetic material from generation to generation or from one somatic cell to another.

[@drsatan9617]

@@albertleibold1415 so what are you saying? That information about evolution is true so it means evolution isn't true?

[@albertleibold1415]

DNA repair ensures the survival of a species by enabling parental DNA to be inherited as faithfully as possible by offspring. It also preserves the health of an individual. Mutations in the genetic code can lead to cancer and other genetic diseases. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Science is about confronting the tough questions, not shying away from them. Is life too complex to have arisen by itself?

[@SkyRiver1]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104Science is not about confronting the tough questions it is about determining facts. There are legions of tough questions that cannot be answered by science or even properly addressed, entirely aside from the fact that many questions are inherently in error. Part of the ideal of scientific investigation is knowing when it's paradigm is inadequate and a question is not valid other than as a statement of that inadequacy and impotence. In the great cosmic theater of possibilities the quite reticent inanimate matter said to the potential for developing a survival instinct, "What's my motivation?" It is just as logical to assume that life infected the physical universe from a more complex unknown dimension or as a result of a fundamental propensity of the cosmos as a whole, as it is to assume that inanimate matter spontaneously developed a motive for survival, both hypotheses equally likely, and both equally erroneous truncated views whose only validity lies in the possibility of future developments in technology and knowledge that may or may not occur -- ever.

[@roccodevillers8860]

Science provides a useful skeleton to ask questions in a systematic way, evaluate both the question and answer in a rigorous fashion. The problem may or may not be resolved satisfactorily, but the question and answer can be recorded and revisited from time to time in the light of new data or argument. This process gradually improves our understanding of ourselves and our environment. This gives the scientific method beauty and marvellous utility. Hopefully the difficulty in this process, doesn’t discourage us from the task or the method.

[@albertleibold1415]

The emergence of life cannot be explained by the laws of physics and chemistry.

[@drsatan9617]

@@albertleibold1415 how did you prove that? Are you saying because it hasn't yet that it cant ever? Upon what do you base that nonsense?

[@albertleibold1415]

It is a fact that mutations and chromosome rearrangements are usually associated with pathological disorder.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Science is about confronting the tough questions, not shying away from them. Is life too complex to have arisen by itself?

[@albertleibold1415]

Example of a pathological disorder caused by mutations: Spinal muscular atrophy is a group of inherited disorders that cause progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Gene alterations (mutations) in the SMN1 and VAPB genes cause SMA.