In this episode we talk to the brilliant Dr. Bruce Damer. Dr. Damer is an associate researcher in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California at Santa Cruz where he collaborated with Prof. David Deamer to develop the Coupled Phases model for the origin of life. From 1999 to 2009 Dr. Damer's company, DigitalSpace Corporation, was awarded contracts by NASA to build an open source 3D modeling platform for the simulation and design of space missions. He has recently completed a 30-year effort to design a concept spacecraft capable of harvesting resources from asteroids. In the late 1990s, Dr. Damer met the American philosopher and storyteller Terence McKenna and formed a collaboration investigating the connection between computer virtual worlds and the inner worlds experienced through alternative states of consciousness. Dr. Damer's design portfolio ranges from early software user interfaces, avatar virtual world for learning and events, spacecraft concepts, and chemical models for the origin of life.