Alive: How Life is Unique & Why it Matters with Melanie Challenger

Thursday May 21st 2026
Doors & drinks at 6.30pm; Talk starts 7pm

Life is not just another physical process. When life appeared on Earth it introduced something radically new into the universe: purposeful bodies that actively work to keep themselves alive.

Unlike non-living matter, life-forms continually maintain themselves, repair damage, avoid danger and reproduce. Evolution refines these forms over time, but their purposiveness begins in the living body itself.

With life, the world stops being only a chain of physical events. It becomes a place where plants, animals, and even microbes constantly sense, evaluate and act in ways that protect and sustain their lives. This makes life inherently intelligent, agentive and meaningful – not a biological machine run by genes but living forms pursuing what matters to them.

Melanie Challenger, author of "Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World" and "How to Be Animal", will discuss how understanding life in this way changes how we see the world. She will explain how The Earth becomes a realm of purposeful beings and how this reshapes how we see life, nature, and ourselves.

Melanie's talk will be followed by a one-pot vegan supper and discussion.

She previously spoke at Kairos in May 2024 on The Joys (& Tribulations) of Being Animal.

Kairos, 84 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TG

Doors open at 6.30pm for drinks. Talk starts at 7pm.

£15 Standard (includes Community Members); £10 Struggling financially; £8 Under 30s; £20 with Donation; £8 Frequent Visitor and Supporter Members. Food complimentary. 

Before requesting a discounted ticket, please consider sincerely: Are you struggling to meet your basic needs? Would you have to make a genuine sacrifice to buy a full priced ticket? Do you have reduced earnings through a lifestyle choice or rather because you're dedicating your time to unpaid work relating to the climate and nature crises or as a result of structural inequality? If you're struggling to pay even the reduced price please contact us on events@kairos.london.

Please note that most of our events take place in our basement space and we do not have a lift so our venue is not fully accessible. Please get in touch if you have accessibility issues via events@kairos.london.

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