1 min readIs life in the universe an improbable or an inevitable event?

Life is an inevitable consequence of evolution. But unlike the rest of nature, the energy that pushes us to self-organize is not external – it is found in our thoughts, deeds, and emotions.

In this 2019 article for Quartz, cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian offers us a new theory on how life has emerged in this universe. Inspired by the Ilya Prigogine’s complexity theory, Azarian says that life seems to be an inevitable result of the dynamics of the universe. If this is the case, we must uphold human existence – we are in fact at home in this universe. 

Implications for AI

When Prigogine published his work on dissipative structures [read Who Is Ilya Prigogine? to know more] changed the second law of thermodynamics to explain the complexity arising out of the universe. In this article by Bobby Azarian, he is redefining what it means to be a citizen of the cosmos. He shows us that though our existence still follows material laws, our lives are by no means meaningless. We are an inevitable product of evolution, and being a creature so different from the rest of nature (thanks to our consciousness), we are now a force of evolution. Unlike the molecules that created life, we have the internalized the energy that will enable us to create new, higher, self-organized forms [read Why Does Life Need Water? to explore the possible role water plays in the creation of life]. 

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