The Universal Hierarchy of Life - Prof. Chris Kempes [SFI]

This podcast features an interview with Professor Chris Kempes from the Santa Fe Institute, who discusses interdisciplinary science, the importance of bridging observations with theory, and the concept of a universal theory of life. He touches on the different cultures in science—variance, exactitude, and coarse-grained abstraction—and how they relate to understanding complex systems. Kempes explores the definition of life, suggesting that it extends beyond traditional biology to include human culture and artificial life, emphasizing the role of materials, constraints, and optimization principles. The conversation covers assembly theory as a method for quantifying complexity and the potential for simulating life in computers, addressing philosophical debates around embodiment and intelligence.