Just What Is Life?

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

What I found interesting in this thread is how quickly the focus shifted to human life, ergo the philosophical bend, rather than all life as you intended. IIRC, it happened in the first response.

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Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Meaningless until you become self aware.

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This is close to what I thought of when I read "Just What Is Life?"
Hard to beat consciousness, when it comes to life.
Of course, cells wouldn't think so - they'd have their own idea.
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I guess, to know that you are. Sort of like biting your own teeth.
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Alan Watts used to say, "Take an infinite amount of different-colored silk scarves, tie a corner of one scarf to the corner of another...continue the same with the rest of them.
Make a loose knot at the beginning of the string of scarves, put your finger into the knot hole, begin pulling the string of scarves.
The knot is life, and the scarves are lives."
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Good thoughts/ideas in this thread.

[ossiblue]

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?

No arguments with the philosophical views but here is the original post. He spells out clearly, IMO, that the question deals with "the criteria for something to be alive", not necessarily consciousness of being alive.

Again, an enjoyable thread because of the variety of interpretations of the original post. Another Lubey masterwork to be picked over and refined into a compendium of rare knowledge which will be published and released upon an unsuspecting public via Oprah's Book of the Month recommendation. (And all we get is a free drink!)