[Interview+] Complexity As a Driving Force of the Universe

Very interesting discussion. I first heard an idea like this in a book called "Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life" by Eric Schneider and Dorian Sagan. They discussed how complex structures emerge to make the generation of entropy more efficient. Life and then intelligence being progressively more efficient systems for generating entropy. The book suggests not so much an independent arrow, but that formation of complex, high information systems work with the existing arrow.

Have you interviewed Sara Imari Walker? I just read her book "Life as no one knows it" and was blown away by it. Her theory of assembly has many similarities to the increasing complexity discussed in this interview.

Both Bob and Mike were great! What optimism. I loved this interview. Hope you have these guys on again Fraser.

I'm with Fraser on Star Trek. I would go even further, strange new worlds latest season was unwatchable. We had to stop after only like four episodes.

Really good interview! Makes you wonder about 'life as we don't know it' when considering what to look for in astrobiology.

Great interview! 🫡🫡🫡

Truly amazing one! Thought I landed on JMG event horizon for a sec :D Human curiosity is a blessing

When Data doesn’t know something, he can say so. He can explain why he says and does what he does (unless some sleeper subroutine seizes control, maybe). It won’t be “because the zillabytes of finely ground-up word-paste I’ve absorbed suggested that that was a plausibly peopley thing to say, and this explanation is likewise not the result of any self-examination but yet another plausibly peopley thing to say”… these chatbots provide an illusion of intelligence, and I think it works on us because we think of language as resulting from thought. But they’re not even *there* when not generating text in response to a prompt.