Why is Life the Way it Is? with Nick Lane
The Royal InstitutionCited 3× on HN, 2016–2022
lecture · general · evergreen · 2016–2022 on HN
Nick Lane's Royal Institution lecture on the origin of life and why it is the way it is. It draws on his book The Vital Question and the alkaline hydrothermal vent theory of abiogenesis.
HN points to it as an accessible presentation of Lane's ideas on life's origins and the rarity of complex life.
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3 comments from Hacker News
You can watch his presentations at the Royal Institute. How the Krebs cycle powers life and death - link Why is Life the Way it Is? ▶ this video
Biochemist Nick Lane espouses the 'alkalkine thermal vent' theory of abiogenesis and believes that single celled prokaryotic type life is almost inevitable on any planet that has or has had a mildly acidic ocean and active plate tectonics with aklaline thermal vents. It's a pretty convincing theory. _Complex_ cellular life (eukaryotic) is another story entirely. There's no reason to believe they progress inevitably from bacteria. Bacteria have been happily doing their thing without much change for the last 3.5 billion (or more) years. The development of eukaryotes seems like mostly a fluke, and they are very young in evolutionary history. And weird. Very weird. ▶ this video
There is also his "Why is Life the Way it Is?" talk he held last year at the Royal Institution. ▶ this video