Have we found a new way of defining life? This scientist thinks so.

Lee Cronin, the Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, proposes that Assembly Theory may hold the key to discovering how life began and evolved. His theory introduces three parameters for understanding the transition from nonliving to living entities: the time it takes to make the object, the time it takes for the object to fall apart naturally, and the time the object can persist in living lineages. These parameters help to quantify life by calculating a system's construction, which measures the extent of selection that has occurred.

In his laboratory, Cronin and his team have used this concept to create an "origin of life machine." It aims to replicate the conditions that allow life to emerge from nonliving materials. By leveraging these time-based parameters, Cronin and his team are constructing engines designed to perform random chemistry experiments, seeking systems that exhibit these life-like characteristics.

If successful, this research could completely change how we think about where life came from —and its future.

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About Lee Cronin:

Leroy Cronin has one of the largest multidisciplinary, chemistry-based research teams in the world. He has given over 300 international talks and has authored over 350 peer-reviewed papers with recent work published in Nature, Science, and PNAS. He and his team are trying to make artificial life forms, find alien life, explore the digitization of chemistry, understand how information can be encoded into chemicals, and construct chemical computers.

He went to the University of York where he completed both a degree and PhD in chemistry and then went on to do postdocs in Edinburgh and Germany before becoming a lecturer at the Universities of Birmingham, and then Glasgow where he has been since 2002, working up the ranks to become the Regius Professor of Chemistry in 2013 at age 39.

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About The Well

Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.

Together, let's learn from them.

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How to trick your brain into saving money

Thanks to evolution, humans are not great at thinking and planning long term. "The human brain just has certain tendencies," says neuroscientist Alex Korb. "We're always going to pay more attention to things that are immediate right now." Luckily, there are ways to counteract our natural habits. Retirement can feel abstract—especially for young people who are just starting in their careers—which makes preparing for it less of a priority. By understanding how the brain impacts certain decisions, we can hack those biases to develop better saving practices and work toward more tangible goals. "Saving one dollar a day is infinitely better than saving zero dollars a day," says Korb. Building on small decisions over time gives you the ability to course correct if strategies are not working out, and leaves room for meaningful progress at your own pace.

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Artificial intelligence is transforming our world, prompting us to revisit fundamental philosophical questions about human existence and purpose. In this interview, Brendan McCord, founder of the Cosmos Institute, examines how philosophical insights from thinkers like Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, and Alexis de Tocqueville can inform our approach to AI, ensuring it enhances rather than undermines human flourishing.

McCord outlines three crucial steps to align AI with the principles of autonomy, reason, and decentralization. By drawing on ancient wisdom, we can navigate the complexities of modern technology and create a future where innovation and human values coexist.

Reflecting on the transformative ideas from Copernicus to Turing, this interview offers a roadmap for finding our place in the cosmos amidst the AI revolution. Explore how we can build a society that prioritizes human potential in the age of technology.

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About Brendan McCord:

Brendan McCord is the founder and Chair of the Cosmos Institute and a key thinker at the intersection of AI and philosophy. In the private sector, Brendan was the founding CEO of two AI startups that were acquired for $400 million. In the public sector, Brendan was the principal founder of the first applied AI organization for the US Department of Defense and author of its first AI strategy. Brendan is a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School and was a Visiting Fellow at St Catherine’s College at the University of Oxford. After MIT, he spent 610 days underwater on a submarine. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and two children.

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What astronaut Ron Garan saw in space changed his life forever – here’s what it taught him.

A curious phenomenon often occurs when astronauts travel to space and look out on our planet for the first time: They see how interconnected and fragile life on Earth is, and they feel a sudden responsibility to protect it.

Astronaut @RonGaran experienced this so-called “overview effect” when he first saw Earth from space. When he looked out on the planet, he saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life, all protected by a remarkably thin atmosphere.

What he did not see was the thing that society often gives top priority: the economy. For Garan, seeing Earth from space revealed problems like global warming, deforestation, and biodiversity loss are not disconnected. They are the symptoms of an underlying flaw in how we perceive ourselves as humans: We fail to realize that we are a planetary species.

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0:00 The lie humanity is living

1:28 Escaping Plato’s cave

2:15 What astronaut’s see in space

4:07 The orbital perspective

4:50 The ‘dolly zoom’: gain mental altitude

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About Ron Garan:

Former NASA astronaut, serial entrepreneur, humanitarian, and highly decorated combat fighter Ron Garan racked up 178 days in space and more than 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits between tours on the US Space Shuttle, Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and the International Space Station. During his time in space, Garan conducted four spacewalks in support of ISS construction and maintenance. Prior to those space journeys, he lived and conducted research on the bottom of the ocean in the world’s only undersea research lab, Aquarius.

Before reaching the summit of his career, Garan, a former test pilot and graduate of the US Naval Test Pilot School, taught hundreds of elite fighter pilots how to "up their game" as a flight instructor at the prestigious USAF Fighter Weapons School, the Air Force version of TOP GUN. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books: The Orbital Perspective, Floating in Darkness: A Journey of Evolution, and the children’s book, Railroad to the Moon. Garan is celebrated not just for his research in space but also for his humanitarian contribution to life on Earth...

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The brain's job is not to pass a math test, get a promotion at work, or win a Nobel Prize. Our brain's only job is to make sure we survive today, and that we live to see another. Our brain' system worked well for us when humanity's only job was to hunt for food and fight for survival. But enter into the modern-day, our brain is not working so well as we have to rationalize problems like genetically modified foods and climate change.

This is something we have to accept about our minds and better understand how our brain works in order to better avoid pitfalls in the future. In the coming years, because of modern technology, we will be able to better identify weaknesses in our rationality and thought patterns. Once we flag these weaknesses, we can make changes to our thinking patterns so that our brains have the tools to make us more rational decision-makers.

So, how do we start thinking more rationally in the 21st century? Experts tell us that we will have to think from an outsider's perspective. To better adapt our fight or flight brains to the modern-day, we will have to step outside of our emotions, reframe our thoughts, and see things from a new perspective.

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Chapters for easier navigation:

0:00 David Ropeik - Is our brain equipped for modern day thinking?

0:51 Daniel Dennett - Can rationality be avoided by future thinking tools?

1:33 Dan Ariely - Looking from an outsider's perspective

2:53 Julia Galef - Rationality in careers and relationships

3:12 David Ropeik - Our brain chemistry on why we act from emotions

4:22 Julia Galef - Bayes’ Rule

4:51 Daniel Dennett - Blind spots in our own thinking

6:17 Paul Bloom - Are we prisoners of our emotions?

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The 2 biggest misconceptions about happiness, with Tal Ben-Shahar

We study medicine, psychology, history, and geography but not happiness. This makes no sense, if happiness is one of life’s most important goals.

Many people believe that happiness is superficial — the absence of pain and the pursuit of pleasure. But a happy life is not necessarily devoid of pain.

Tal Ben-Shahar, Harvard's "happiness professor," says that the science of happiness can introduce us to new ways of thinking that will lead to contentment.

To learn even more from the world's biggest thinkers, get Big Think+ for your business: https://bigthink.com/plus/

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About Tal Ben-Shahar:

Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is an internationally renowned teacher and author in the fields of happiness and leadership. After graduating from Harvard with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology and a PhD in Organizational Behavior, Tal taught two of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history: Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. He then taught Happiness Studies at Columbia University. A prolific writer, Tal's books have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Tal Ben-Shahar consults and lectures to executives in multinational corporations, educational institutions, and the general public. Topics include leadership, education, ethics, happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting and mindfulness. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is also the co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy. Learn more here: https://www.happinessstudies.academy/

Tal is an avid sportsman and a certified yoga instructor whose work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, ancient wisdom and modern technology, science and art.

Up next ►► Don’t chase happiness. Become antifragile   • Don’t chase happiness. Become antifra...  

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How to maximize wins and minimize losses, explained by four experts on game theory. Game theory is a useful tool for decision-making in situations where the outcome depends on multiple parties. It provides a systematic way to analyze the interdependence of individuals or organizations and their potential strategies. Not only does game theory help you identify the optimal strategy for achieving your goals, it can also help you avoid the sunk-cost fallacy — the tendency to persist in an endeavor because of the resources you've already invested. By taking into account the potential actions and responses of other players, game theory allows you to minimize your losses and make informed choices that lead to better outcomes. Whether you're negotiating a business deal or making investment decisions, game theory can be a valuable asset in helping you make smarter choices and achieve your objectives

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Chapters:-

0:00 What is game theory?

1:08 War: Learn from Reagan and Gorbachev

2:58 Poker: The sunk cost fallacy

5:56 Zero-sum games: The minimax strategy

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About Kevin Zollman: Kevin Zollman is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (part of Ludwig-Maximilians Universität), and an associate editor of the journal Philosophy of Science. About Annie Duke: Annie Duke has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker to public speaking. For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the prestigious NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded the National Science Foundation Fellowship. Thanks to this fellowship, she studied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. About Liv Boeree: Olivia "Liv" Boeree is a poker player, TV presenter and model from England who won the 2010 European Poker Tour in Sanremo. Born in Kent, Boeree studied at Ashford School before going on to earn a First Class Honours degree in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Manchester.

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Why we keep giving power to the wrong people, according to political scientist and associate professor Brian Klaas. Brian Klaas, a political scientist and associate professor at University College London, argues that while the popular phrase "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" is true to a certain extent, the real problem lies in broken systems that attract and promote the wrong kind of people. In his research, Klaas has found that people who crave power are more likely to self-select into positions of power, resulting in a slate of leaders who are not representative of the general population. He believes that the solution is to design systems that attract better people. Klaas challenges the notion that the people in power are entirely to blame and instead reflects on why society is drawn toward abusive leaders.

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What is the purpose of a cost-benefit evaluation in project management?

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Chapters:-

0:00 Why the wrong people are in charge

1:32 Is corruption universal?

2:11 Martin McFife, the HOA president from hell

3:28 Self-selection bias

4:14 Why we can’t resist “strongmen”

6:26 Expelling the worst of the worst

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About Brian Klaas: Associate Professor of Global Politics at University College London, Contributing Writer for The Atlantic, author of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, and Creator/Host of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast.

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About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ Get Smarter, Faster With Interviews From The Worlds Biggest Thinkers.

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About the video: Is human overpopulation alarmist hype with disturbing consequences? Oxford data scientist Hannah Ritchie debunks the overpopulation myth.

Up next, Psychologist debunks 8 myths of mass scale ►   • Psychologist debunks 8 myths of mass ...  

A widespread concern with overpopulation became prominent in the 1960s and the 1970s, when scholars wondered how we could produce enough food for a rapidly growing global population. Brought to the fore with the publication of the book, "The Population Bomb," by Paul R. Ehrlich in 1968, it seemed that the only way to solve this problem was to discourage people from having more children.

This concern hinged on the assumption that the world population would continue to grow exponentially, but it hasn't. While the global population is still growing, in fact it's growing at a much slower rate, as global population growth rates peaked decades ago and have halved since then.

So is this concern completely unfounded? What can future population projections tell us? Data scientist Hannah Ritchie explains why.

chapters:

00:00: The overpopulation concern

02:01: Global population growth rates

02:28: The fall in global fertility rates

03:06: Amount of food produced per person

03:50: Per capita CO2 emissions

04:17: The underpopulation concern

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About Hannah Ritchie:

Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist and science communicator focused on the largest problems that shape our world, and how to solve them.

Ritchie's work focuses on environmental sustainability, including climate change, energy, food and agriculture, biodiversity, air pollution and deforestation.

Ritchie is a Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data, and a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme in Global Development, at the University of Oxford.

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Wharton professor Ethan Mollick explains why “co-intelligence” may be the future of AI.

Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI," explores the impact of AI on our work, creative endeavors, and overall lives.

AI is reshaping our understanding of humanity and intelligence, evolving from simple prediction tools to sophisticated large language models, but how do we keep it from dooming us all? Should we be more afraid of it, or are we actually in control? Mollick proposes four most likely predictions of our future with AI – As Good As It Gets, Slow Growth, Exponential Growth, and The Machine God – and explains the likelihood and potential results of each one.

Mollick stresses the importance of using AI as a supplemental tool to enhance your performance, not as something that will replace you entirely. According to Mollick, AI is here to stay, and it’s up to us to decide how it is used now, and in generations to come. Our choices today will shape the trajectory of AI and determine whether it becomes a force for good or a source of existential risk.

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About Ethan Mollick:

Ethan Mollick is a professor of management at Wharton, specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation. His research has been featured in various publications, including Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the creator of numerous educational games on a variety of topics. He lives and teaches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Subscribe to Ethan’s Substack ► https://substack.com/@oneusefulthing

Purchase his most recent book, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI ► https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

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