The conference addresses problems and inconsistencies in modern definitions of life by appealing to explicit and implicit definitions of life offered in ancient texts. This problem is becoming increasingly urgent as astrobiologists come closer to being able to detect biosignatures or signs of life on extrasolar planets, since the forms of life that exist on these planets may not fit within definitions of life generated by biologists for studying life on Earth. We think that ancient answers to this definitional problem may suggest fruitful directions in which contemporary, operating definitions of life could be expanded. Participants include experts on a wide array of ancient cultures whose work addresses concepts of life from a range of theoretical perspectives; we pay particular attention to speakers whose work addresses gendered and racialized views of life in antiquity. We also engage modernist scholars whose work has critiqued contemporary definitions of life. Finally—and most essentially—the conference is coordinated with UCSC’s astrobiology initiative and includes several speakers from scientific fields who can address the role of definitions in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Keynote: Carol Cleland, Philosophy (University of Colorado Boulder)

Also featuring:

• Ruth Murray-Clay, Planetary Science (UC Santa Cruz)
• Francesca Spiegel, Greek literature/medicine
• Martin Devecka, Cultural history/Central Asia (UC Santa Cruz)
• Michael Wong, Astrobiology (Carnegie Institution for Science’s Earth & Planets Laboratory)
• Amit Shilo, Greek literature and political theory (UC Santa Barbara)
• Zac Zimmer, Latin American Literature and speculative fiction (UC Santa Cruz)
• Mario Telo, Greek literature (UC Berkeley)
• Tejas Aralere, Ancient science/Sanskrit (UC Santa Barbara)
• Alex Purves, Greek literature (UCLA)
• David Shorter, World Arts/Dance/Anthropology (UCLA)
• Laurence Totelin, Ancient science/technology/medicine ( Cardiff University)
• Anna Freidin Roman cultural history (University of Michigan)
• Gina Konstantopoulos, Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies (UCLA)
• James Porter Ancient literature and philosophy (UC Berkeley)
• Giulia Maria Chesi Greek literature/history of technology
• Mark Csikszentmihalyi, East Asian Languages and Cultures (UC Berkeley)
• Karen ni Mheallaigh, Ancient science/fiction (John Hopkins Univeristy)
• Colin Webster, Greek medicine (UC Davis)
• Natalie Batalha, Astrobiology (UC Santa Cruz)
• Maria Gerolemou, Greek Literature/History of technology  (University of Exeter)
• Stuart Bartlett, OOL and exoplanets (Cal Tech)