Einstein's cosmology is formulated from the outset in such a way that the existence of extraterrestrial life seems almost trivial - because the cosmological principle, the axiomatic starting point for all subsequent considerations, ensures that physics can be regarded as the same everywhere in the universe. The fundamental role of physics is therefore immediately obvious. But the more far-reaching definitions, which refer to other subjects, are not yet really established. The question "What is life?", for example, requires a definitional precision that is not yet available. Incidentally, it shares this fate with the similar question: What is consciousness? Indirectly, therefore, questions of physical foundation immediately refer to questions of philosophical foundation. And a stringent treatment of the subject is genuinely interdisciplinary in nature. First of all, the aim should be to investigate those physical aspects that underlie both biological and non-biological evolution.
Speaker of the working group:
