Santa Fe Institute's video: Andromeda Strain and the Meaning of Life: Part 3 with Chris Kempes and Kate Adamala

COVID-19's continued threat makes hosting our annual InterPlanetary Festival near impossible. In lieu of in-person panel discussions and sci-fi film screenings, SFI's InterPlanetary Project will explore the Planetary Life Support System "Astrobiology and Life Detection" in a mini-series called "Andromeda Strain and the Meaning of Life." SFI President, David Krakauer, kicks this series off by discussing some of the challenging questions at the center of origins of life research that emerge in Michael Crichton's "Andromeda Strain." What can a science-fiction film about an invasive, alien virus tell us about life, on earth and beyond? He and Chris Kempes approached some of those themes in episode two. In this third episode, SFI faculty/PI on our Origins of Life Research Collaboration Network, Chris Kempes, discusses synthetic life with Kate Adamala . 0:00 Intro 0:42 Kate’s plan to take over another world… 3:34 Why can’t we build a cell, if we understand its constituent parts? 6:06 What can we build? 6:55 The complexity of cellular processes 10:10 The physical properties of living systems/the narrow phase state of life 13:18 Would life have emerged under different environmental conditions? 15:01 Does recreating life mean that we understand life, in general? 16:43 What about life very different from our own? 20:03 Assumptions we’re already making about life 21:31 The need for new, abstracted theories 22:41 Looking at every level 24:00 Impossibility of building a universal pathogen 25:44 Various lenses through which to look at life 27:06 The limits of experimentation 28:34 Model systems matter 29:27 How to build an Andromeda Strain 30:54 Will macroscopic, intelligent, alien life be altruistic or imperial? 34:31 The likelihood of finding intelligent extraterrestrial life 34:48 Conclusion Each week, we'll host a conversation between experts on this subject. Tune in next Thursday for a follow-up between Kate Adamala and Sara Imari Walker. Future confirmed panelists include Lee Cronin, Pete Worden and Jeremy England. Learn more about SFI's InterPlanetary Project at https://santafe.edu/interplanetary/mi... Learn more about SFI's Origins of Life research at https://santafe.edu/research/projects... Watch a trailer for Andromeda Strain at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMbSp... Learn more at https://santafe.edu Follow us on social media: https://twitter.com/sfiscience https://instagram.com/sfiscience https://facebook.com/santafeinstitute https://facebook.com/groups/santafeinstitute https://linkedin.com/company/santafeinstitute