Michael Shermer with Dr. Charles S. Cockell - The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution

Listen to the Podcast (audio) version:
goo.gl/FnSDAS
We are all familiar with the popular idea of strange alien life wildly different from life on earth inhabiting other planets. Maybe it’s made of silicon! Maybe it has wheels! Or maybe it doesn’t. In The Equations of Life, astrobiologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution’s outcomes predictable. If we were to find on a distant planet something very much like a lady bug eating something like an aphid, we shouldn’t be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.
In addition to these topics, Dr. Shermer and Dr. Cockell discuss: the origins of life on earth; the possibility of finding life on Mars and, if we did, would it have something like DNA, albeit with different base pairs?; Fermi’s paradox: if the laws of physics and evolution are so common throughout the universe, and there are so many earth-like planets in our galaxy alone (estimated to be in the billions), where is everyone?; humanity becoming an interplanetary species (possibly the first), and if so what type of governing system we should employ for, say, the first colonies on Mars.
Order the book from Amazon
goo.gl/3CSVCj
This interview was recorded on June 20, 2018 as part of the Science Salon series of dialogues hosted by Michael Shermer and presented by The Skeptics Society, in California.
Listen to Science Salon via iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Soundcloud
www.skeptic.co...
Watch past Science Salon videos
www.skeptic.co...
Learn more about Science Salon:
www.skeptic.co...
Learn more about Skeptic
www.skeptic.com/
BECOME A PATRON
You play a vital part in our commitment to promote science and reason. Your ongoing patronage will help ensure that sound scientific viewpoints are heard around the world.
/ skeptic
#sciencesalon

[@Douglas_Rutherford]

One reason I like this conversation is that Cockell is so focused in the science that he primes Shermer’s sceptical attitude, so the whole time they stay on topic and don’t wander into less important ideas

[@Raydensheraj]

I can only thank Shermer for doing these interviews/talks. I devour almost any Book concerning Cosmology/Astronomy and Biology so it's nice to find a bit out about the person behind the Book...

[@Fireneedsair]

Scale by Geoffrey West is an excellent companion book to this one

[@EscepticoHumanistaUU]

I think that it would be useful to distinguish teleology from teleonomy, as some philosophers of science have done. We can talk about things going in one direction, but teleonomically, that is, they do so exclusively in virtue of the laws of nature; as opposed to teleology, when things are directed by an external force to fulfill a particular end, to fulfill an intelligent purpose.

[@peterz53]

@32 m maybe a poor analogy, but if there's a physical justification for using only certain substrates for life to develop, why is it that so many smart people are claiming that consciousness is substrate independent and can be implemented on any information processing devise? We don't know enough to say that consciousness is substrate independent even though it's a hypothesis worthy of testing.

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

That question is well posed. I was thinking precisely the same thing the other day, but you've put it better than I did. All that I can say on the matter is that one component of the answer is that many have faith in the idea of artificially constructing consciousness which necessitates the belief that consciousness is substrate independent. Another component is that there is almost nothing in the realm of tested hypotheses for the mechanism of consciousness which leaves space for the entire extent of possibilities to turn out to be accurate. As far as I'm aware there's a small selection of ideas for probing deeper into the physics and neuroscience of consciousness and they all could, theoretically, be replicated through mediums other than the biological human system. By that I mean the hypothesis that consciousness is substrate dependent would hinge on the demonstration of mechanism that can only occur on the scale and with the components found in the biological system of brains. This appears to be as far off as a substrate independent consciousness demonstration.