Abstract: 
Motivated by the need to paint a more general picture of what life is—and could be—with respect to the rest of the phenomena of the universe, we propose a new vocabulary for astrobiological research. Lyfe is defined as any system that fulfills all four processes of the living state, namely: dissipation, autocatalysis, homeostasis, and learning. Life is defined as the instance of lyfe that we are familiar with on Earth, one that uses a specific organometallic molecular toolbox to record information about its environment and achieve dynamical order by dissipating certain planetary disequilibria. This new classification system allows the astrobiological community to more clearly define the questions that propel their research—e.g., whether they are developing a historical narrative to explain the origin of life (on Earth), or a universal narrative for the emergence of lyfe, or whether they are seeking signs of life specifically, or lyfe at large across the universe. While the concept of “life as we don’t know it” is not new, the four pillars of lyfe offer a novel perspective on the living state that is indifferent to the particular components that might produce it.

Speakers: Dr. Stuart Bartlett (Caltech, ELSI) & Dr. Michael Wong (University of Washington)

Speakers bio: 

Stuart Bartlett graduated with an MPhys degree in Physics from the University of Bath in 2008. After an assistantship at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos, he began a PhD in Complex Systems Simulation at the University of Southampton, graduating in 2014. He then took up a postdoctoral position in the Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences (CRYOS) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In 2016 he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the EON project at the Earth-life Science Institute (ELSI) in Tokyo, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. This included research visits to the California Institute of Technology, where he now continues as a postdoctoral researcher.

Michael L. Wong earned his PhD in planetary science from Caltech in 2018. Since then, he has been working as a postdoc in the University of Washington's Astronomy Department & Astrobiology Program, as well as the NASA NExSS Virtual Planetary Laboratory. In his spare time, he hosts a podcast called Strange New Worlds about the intersection between science and Star Trek.

ELSI Host: Eric Smith

Date: 19 June, 10:30-11:30

Venue: Online