Episode · Lex Fridman Podcast · 2022-03-11
Books mentioned on #269 – Lee Cronin: Origin of Life, Aliens, Complexity, and Consciousness
Lee Cronin is a chemist at the University of Glasgow. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Paperspace – Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.
Lee Cronin discussed Solaris by Stanisław Lem and The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Solaris
Solaris by Stanisław Lem is a classic science fiction novel about a scientific research station hovering above an enigmatic, sentient ocean planet that manifests the deeply repressed psychological traumas of the human crew.
Discussed“They allow you to record those memories, or at least on Earth, you could imagine, you know, a Stanislaw Lem-type world where you might have life emerging or intelligence emerging before life; that may be something to unwind, like Solaris or something.”
Where to get it
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The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins is a seminal science book arguing that the complex adaptations of living organisms are shaped by natural selection rather than conscious design.
Discussed“This relates to the blind watchmaker argument, which questions how something complex, like a watch, could spontaneously emerge. Well, it doesn't; it's a lineage of lesser watches and devices that couple and bootstrap onto one another.”
Where to get it
