Just What Is Life?

[matt f]

Death is part of the life cycle.
My bad.

[GH85Carrera]

See Livi's reply above yours.

[motion]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

How would one define life?

One fear-of-dying crisis after another. Till, well, I die.

[Laneco]

Life is.... An adventure!

So dig it baby!

angela

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Laneco

Life is.... An adventure!

So dig it baby!

angela

Our own RoninLB would agree with that....Gawd I miss the guy!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Life is making the person's next to you, better.

[Jim Richards]

physics and chemistry and biology

[Jim Richards]

The "origins" of Life

[nostatic]

music

[Hawkeye's-911T]

"Cogito ergo sum" - I guess it is time that I re-read Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy" before I can wade in & give a decent answer to the question.

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by motion

One fear-of-dying crisis after another. Till, well, I die.

all fear is the ego's fear of death...

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Chemistry that attains a certain level of complexity.

does it have to be chemistry?

people usually say something about carbon - but both are structuralist arguments

[72doug2,2S]

LIFE



What Is Life is a song by George Harrison

George Harrison What Is Life

What I feel, I can't say
But my love is there for you anytime of day
But if it's not love that you need
Then I'll try my best to make everything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side

What I know, I can do
If I give my love now to everyone like you
But if it's not love that you need
Then I'll try my best to make evrything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side
Tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side

What I feel, I can't say
But my love is there for you any time of day
But if it's not love that you need
Then I'll try my best to make everything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side
Oh tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side

What is my life without your love
Tell me, who am I without you, by my side

(fade
Oh tell me, what is my life without your love
Tell me who am I without you by my side

[scottmandue]

[ZOA NOM]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

How would one define life? What does it mean to be alive? John Keosian, author of The origin of Life wrote "The origin of life...as an examination of the mechanisms operating in the transition of matter to higher and higher levels of organizations."

So what is life? I was thinking about what the properties of what it means to be living...
To Be Able To Reproduce
To Be Able To Change/Adapt even Mutate
To Be Able to Move, Adjust Position
To Metabolize - respire, injest, digest to sustain or grow, excrete
To Grow and experience a Life Cycle
To Respond to Stimuli
To Maintain, Stabilize Internal Functions

Are there exceptions? I guess it could be said that someone in a coma or life support doesn't fit the criteria, but I guess the whole may not, but various parts may - cells that is.

So what is the criteria for something to be alive?

"When you're racing, that's life...anything that happens before, or after, that's just waiting." - Steve McQueen, in Le Mans

[Chocaholic]

Read something interesting today. The salinity of a tear or of sweat, is almost identical to the salinity of ocean water. It's all alive, and it's all connected.

[LeeH]

A close friend recently found out that she has cancer. She's still waiting on staging, but she does know that the surgery she just had was not able to remove all of the cancer. While not directly answering the question posed by the OP, I found her thoughts extremely moving:

"The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death. I think that my sins are monstrously huge and that this disease and likely death is my punishment. What sins are those, you might ask? I have not lived enough. I have not loved enough. I have built walls "for protection" that kept me from truly enjoying life. I never took risks, real risks, in life, in work, in friendship and in love. I have the best family in the world and yet I don't spend time with them. I have made some wonderful, wonderful friends whom I love dearly but I never reach out to them to stay in touch, to stay connected. I never, call, I never write. Nothing. I've seen the pain and disappointment of the world but not the joy and the opportunity. Life offers you everything and I took nothing. I've known this and done nothing to correct it. Didn't know how. Still don't know how. But now I fear I have no time to learn. "

[dipso]

Life is growth and decay. When you stop doing these, you are usually considered dead.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Read something interesting today. The salinity of a tear or of sweat, is almost identical to the salinity of ocean water. It's all alive, and it's all connected.

Sand is coral.

[nynor]

time and effort.