The Law of Functional Information

Leading mineralogist Dr. Robert Hazen on the missing law of nature that could explain why life emerges. Credit to: The Well on YouTube: https://bit.ly/welcometothewell

IPI lecture – Dr Michael L. Wong, Carnegie Institution for Science, USA

Our next IPI Lecture will be on Saturday, 6th of July at 16.00 London time. 

Title: An informational perspective of life

Abstract: Information processing is a central feature of life and may be the key to developing bio-signatures that are capable of detecting life as we do not know it. First, I will describe how concepts that we generally associate with the field of data science are strikingly descriptive of the way that life, in general, processes information about its environment. Second, I will explore how the topologies of atmospheric chemical reaction networks of Solar System bodies are distinct from one another, with potential applications to exoplanet bio-signatures. Third, I will show how a robust method that combines pyrolysis–GC–MS measurements of a wide variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial carbonaceous materials with machine-learning-based classification to achieve ~90% accuracy in the differentiation between samples of abiotic origins vs. biotic specimens. Fourth, I will propose a new time-asymmetric law that states that the functional information of a system will increase over time when subjected to selection for function(s).

Author: Dr. Michael L. Wong

BIO: Dr. Michael L. Wong is an NHFP Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth & Planets Laboratory studying astrobiology and planetary science. In his spare time, he hosts a podcast called Strange New Worlds, which examines science, technology, and culture through the lens of Star Trek.

6th of July at 16.00 London time. Online ZOOM lecture - link will be emailed to the IPI members.