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RE: What Is Life?
The Wikipedia article also has the following list:
1. Living organisms contain molecular components such as: carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins.
2. Living organisms require both energy and matter in order to continue living.
3. Living organisms are composed of at least one cell.
4. Living organisms maintain homeostasis.
5. Species of living organisms will evolve.
If meeting all of the above was the accepted definition of life, would it change your (anyone's) vote?
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What Is Life?
Of course, one of the biggest conundrums we really face with the question of alien life is the actual definition of life. The staff of Astrobiology put together questions to quantify a definition of life through an interview with philosopher Carol Cleland. Wikipedia defines life and it's exceptions based on common principles:
- ability to grow
- metabolism
- innate motion
- reproduction
- response to stimuli
We define life on Earth very much in our own image. But there are so many exceptions to the traditional principles or inarguably living things that violate the principles that you must begin to wonder how valid they really are. At what point can computer software be considered alive? Perhaps an inorganic material in another world could possess a collective consciousness.
Of course, what if there is no such thing as life at all and we've just constructed this concept to make ourselves feel more self-important? Maybe everything we are and do are just electrical responses to chemical combinations of the brain and response to stimuli.
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