The vital question
by Nick Lane · first published 2001
79% recommend20% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Readable account of how energy and metabolism shaped life's origin, with alkaline hydrothermal vents as the proposed cradle, and why complex life may be rare. Suits curious non-specialists, though parts are speculative.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A biochemist, building on the pillars of evolutionary theory and drawing on cutting-edge research into the link between energy and genes, argues that the evolution of multicellular life was the result of a single event.
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…Diseases Forever?, Nancy Leys Stepan - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801450586 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345472322 Honorable Mention: The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life, Nick Lane - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393088812
on “The Best Books I Read in 2015” ↗For anyone interested in the origin of life I can heartily recommend Nick Lane's "The Vital Question", which sums up a lot of the most recent research in this area and also briefly talks about the Cambrian explosion. Really fascinating, deeply interesting stuff.
on “What sparked the Cambrian explosion?” ↗I'm currently reading Nick Lane's excellent book, The Vital Question, which explores what we know about the split between archaea and eukaryotes, so this was an exciting article. This discovery is still one level below that split, within the eukaryotes, but the ongoing…
on “What a Newfound Kingdom Means for the Tree of Life” ↗Peripherally related book recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Question-Evolution-Origins-Comp... Someone here on HN recommended it to me and it was an awesome read (that I doubt I understood).
on “Five big mysteries about CRISPR’s origins” ↗The Vital Question, by Nick Lane is a pretty good book that takes a thermodynamics first approach to this question.
on “Algorithm discovers how six molecules could evolve into life’s building blocks” ↗The author profiled in the piece, Nick Lane, wrote a really thought-provoking earlier book called The Vital Question. Addresses some similar points, esp the aspect where biologists have (understandably!) focused a lot on information theory since 1953 DNA discovery. But that they have neglected integrating understanding…
on “How food powers the body's metabolism” ↗…the great filters. I realise it's all hypothetical - extrapolating from a sole sample is a fool's errand - but the logic laid out in those two works is compelling. [0] https://nick-lane.net/books/the-vital-question-why-is-life-t... [1] https://nick-lane.net/books/power-sex-suicide-mitochondria-m...
on “Grabby Aliens: A Resolution to the Fermi Paradox” ↗…neither does the present. It is the ultimate hubris of humans from the beginning of time that they are somehow "more special" than the rest of the machine that is the universe. When you read books like "The Vital Question"[1] you might be struck that humans are just a 'step in the path' rather than the starting or ending point of that path. You can imagine self aware machines arguing over the notion that they evolved from…
on “Bill Joy: Why the Future Doesn't Need Us (2000)” ↗The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life by Nick Lane is not really about the mind, but it is about the things that lead up to the contemporary mind and is consistently fascinating, even for…
on “Alan Kay's reading list” ↗I can't recommend "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane enough for people who are really interested in the question of life elsewhere. It does such a wonderful job of show how mechanically "life" can be started as a way of simply reacting chemicals…
on “There Have Probably Been Aliens” ↗Has anyone else here read Nick Lane's new book - The Vital Question - I just finished it and this article really seems like a continuation of some of his theories he talks about. I found about the book from HN, and have since bought every single other book by him, almost…
on “In Newly Created Life-Form, a Major Mystery” ↗…appears common, but multicellular life appears to be extremely uncommon and appears to have evolved only once on earth, at least according to Nick Lane's excellent (though inadvertently depressing) book The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life (https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Question-Evolution-Origins-Comp...). I can't gauge the accuracy of his claims but the book does not appear to have been…
on “Is Earthly life premature from a cosmic perspective?” ↗it is talked about a bit in The Vital Question [1] and a more in depth in Power, Sex, and Suicide [2] His books are honestly life changing, i can recommend them or him enough. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Question-Evolution-Origins-Comp... [2]…
on “Anti-Aging Startup Raises $116M With Bezos Backing” ↗I thought Shoe Dog was a great book, although my favorite book of the year was a Gates Notes recommendation for summer reading-- The Vital Question, by Nick Lane. If you're interested in biology and the origins of life, it makes some provocative claims, and backs them up. If this doesn't change how you think about life on earth (and elsewhere), I…
on “My Favorite Books of 2016” ↗…you really need before you just include them in the text? Was on maternity leave this year so there are quite a few. Those marked * are also recommended. Guns Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond * The Vital Question - Nick Lane * The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath * Convergent Series - Larry Niven * Cosmos - Carl Sagan * World of Ptaavs - Larry Niven The Integral Trees - Larry Niven The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗