Nick Lane: Origin of Life, Evolution, Aliens, Biology, and Consciousness | Lex Fridman Podcast #318

Four hours from hydrothermal vents to the hard problem. Lane lays out why he thinks life began as chemistry driven by proton gradients rather than as information, why complex cells happened only once, and where he would look for life elsewhere. He also praises Michael Levin’s bioelectric work on planaria, and turns at the end to whether feeling is something chemistry does rather than something a neural network computes