{"product_id":"lifes-solution","title":"Life's Solution","description":"The assassin's bullet misses, the Archduke's carriage moves forward, and a catastrophic war is avoided. So too with the history of life. Re-run the tape of life, as Stephen J. Gould claimed, and the outcome must be entirely different: an alien world, without humans and maybe not even intelligence. The history of life is littered with accidents: any twist or turn may lead to a completely different world. Now this view is being challenged. Simon Conway Morris explores the evidence demonstrating life's almost eerie ability to navigate to a single solution, repeatedly. Eyes, brains, tools, even culture: all are very much on the cards. So if these are all evolutionary inevitabilities, where are our counterparts across the galaxy? The tape of life can only run on a suitable planet, and it seems that such Earth-like planets may be much rarer than hoped. Inevitable humans, yes, but in a lonely Universe.","brand":"Morris Conway","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55281236771192,"sku":"9780521603256","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9351\/9316\/files\/10027887_LRG.jpg?v=1758160553","url":"https:\/\/etcevents.co.uk\/products\/lifes-solution","provider":"ETCEvents","version":"1.0","type":"link"}