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Santa Fe Institute

Sara Walker on the Physics of Life and Planet-Scale Intelligence

Santa Fe Institute via YouTube

Overview

Explore the cutting-edge research on the origins of life and planet-scale intelligence in this thought-provoking lecture by Sara Walker. Delve into complex topics such as the physics of life, information transfer in living systems, and the potential for recognizing alien life forms. Learn about Assembly Theory, a new physics framework being developed to explain the emergence of life and intelligence. Gain insights into the relationship between energy, matter, and information in living systems, and consider how these concepts might apply to detecting biospheres and technospheres on other worlds. Examine the limitations of current physics in understanding life and time, and discover how new models are expanding our definition of life. Challenge your understanding of what constitutes life and intelligence, and contemplate the possibility of unrecognized forms of life existing on Earth and throughout the cosmos.

Syllabus

Intro
Welcome
Meet Sara Walker
Algorithmic Origins of Life
Complex Systems
Measuring Interiority
Reproducibility
Intuition
Art and Science
Biophysical Scaling
Assembly Spaces
The Shortest Path
Time
Separation

Taught by

Santa Fe Institute

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