The Basis of Life: How Humanity sees through the Machine Era. At the heart of science lies an ancient question what does it mean to be alive? Through my science and management studies, I was taught to think of life as systems-numbers, cells and information. We prefer to quantify health with test scores, and discuss the body like it’s a machine. The more I learned, particularly with the level of technology that we have today, the more I felt that life is so much more than charts or numbers. There is something more that makes us human-beyond what science can quantify. We currently inhabit an amazing time. Machines can learn, think and even display reactions that mimic emotions.

Artificial intelligence already is changing our work, our lives and our society. But with the changes comes a bigger question if we can be duplicated by machines, then what is it that makes us unique? Are we merely sophisticated machines ourselves? Or is there something within us-such as ideas, feelings, or a soul-that cannot be duplicated? It is because of this interest that the following will be done. The Basis of Life is an odyssey in science and philosophy that attempts to probe how we perceive life in the present-and specifically as the machine/human differentiation on recedes. We’ll consider the elements of life, discuss how we gain consciousness, and address the big questions of whom we are and why we’re here in the age of technology.

I have incorporated management and ethics concepts and anecdotes, global health topics and technology concepts-not to provide precise answers, but to enable a critical discussion. This book merges the past and the future, nature and technology, and science and human values. Above everything else, it’s an invite to you, reader-to think more deeply, ask bolder questions, and revel in wonder at what makes us human.

Welcome to the journey.