Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker explains Assembly Theory — her theory of how and why life exists in the context of historical contingency and informational complexity.
From Sara Imari Walker's Long Now Talk: An Informational Theory of Life youtu.be/zhzxQraB2m0
This Talk is part of Long Now Talks.
Launched by Stewart Brand in 02003, Long Now Talks has invited more than 400 leading thinkers to share their civilization-scale ideas with a live audience and millions around the globe tuning in to our podcast and videos. Long Now Talks are brought to you by The Long Now Foundation, which has spent the last 25 years igniting cultural imagination around long-term thinking.
By inspiring thought and conversation about how we've been shaped by the last 10,000 years and what might be in store for us over the next 10,000 years, Long Now Talks seek to expand our collective sense of the present moment. Long Now Talks cover futurism and speculative fiction; time, nature, and contemplative practices; the intersection of the humanities and sciences; the evolution of counterculture to cyberculture; cultural imagination, land art and public monuments; and of course, long-term thinking and being a good ancestor.
In our age of compounding crises, The Long Now Foundation is a counterweight — our community of 12,000 strong across 65 countries over our first quarter century. We are a force that imagines new possibilities, thinks critically, and takes action over the long term. We believe that when we all come together, bound by commitment and curiosity, audacious things become possible. Will you join us? longnow.org/join
Astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker explains Assembly Theory — her theory of how and why life exists in the context of historical contingency and informational complexity.
From Sara Imari Walker's Long Now Talk: An Informational Theory of Life youtu.be/zhzxQraB2m0
This Talk is part of Long Now Talks.
Launched by Stewart Brand in 02003, Long Now Talks has invited more than 400 leading thinkers to share their civilization-scale ideas with a live audience and millions around the globe tuning in to our podcast and videos. Long Now Talks are brought to you by The Long Now Foundation, which has spent the last 25 years igniting cultural imagination around long-term thinking.
By inspiring thought and conversation about how we've been shaped by the last 10,000 years and what might be in store for us over the next 10,000 years, Long Now Talks seek to expand our collective sense of the present moment. Long Now Talks cover futurism and speculative fiction; time, nature, and contemplative practices; the intersection of the humanities and sciences; the evolution of counterculture to cyberculture; cultural imagination, land art and public monuments; and of course, long-term thinking and being a good ancestor.
In our age of compounding crises, The Long Now Foundation is a counterweight — our community of 12,000 strong across 65 countries over our first quarter century. We are a force that imagines new possibilities, thinks critically, and takes action over the long term. We believe that when we all come together, bound by commitment and curiosity, audacious things become possible. Will you join us? longnow.org/join
