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It's Alive! It's Alive!
- Thread starter Thief
- Start date
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
From the dictionary.....
"the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death".
Darkforbid
Well-Known Member
Yep, is someone in suspended animation alive or dead?
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
What is a virus? Last I heard that one was again leaning towards living. What is dead? We still don't have a clear cut and easy answer for that either.
Skwim
Veteran Member
"Properties of life
Biologists have identified various traits common to all the living organisms we know of. Although nonliving things may show some of these characteristic traits, only living things show all of them.
1. Organization
Living things are highly organized, meaning they contain specialized, coordinated parts. All living organisms are made up of one or more cells, which are considered the fundamental units of life.
2. Metabolism
Life depends on an enormous number of interlocking chemical reactions. These reactions make it possible for organisms to do work—such as moving around or catching prey—as well as growing, reproducing, and maintaining the structure of their bodies. Living things must use energy and consume nutrients to carry out the chemical reactions that sustain life. The sum total of the biochemical reactions occurring in an organism is called its metabolism.
3. Homeostasis
Living organisms regulate their internal environment to maintain the relatively narrow range of conditions needed for cell function. For instance, your body temperature needs to be kept relatively close to 98.6∘^\circ∘degreeF (37∘^\circ∘degreeC). This maintenance of a stable internal environment, even in the face of a changing external environment, is known as homeostasis.
4. Growth
Living organisms undergo regulated growth. Individual cells become larger in size, and multicellular organisms accumulate many cells through cell division. You yourself started out as a single cell and now have tens of trillions of cells in your body1^11start superscript, 1, end superscript! Growth depends on anabolic pathways that build large, complex molecules such as proteins and DNA, the genetic material.
5. Reproduction
Living organisms can reproduce themselves to create new organisms. Reproduction can be either asexual, involving a single parent organism, or sexual, requiring two parents. Single-celled organisms, like the dividing bacterium shown in the left panel of the image at right, can reproduce themselves simply by splitting in two!
6. Response
Living organisms show “irritability,” meaning that they respond to stimuli or changes in their environment. For instance, people pull their hand away—fast!—from a flame; many plants turn toward the sun; and unicellular organisms may migrate toward a source of nutrients or away from a noxious chemical.
7. Evolution
Populations of living organisms can undergo evolution, meaning that the genetic makeup of a population may change over time. In some cases, evolution involves natural selection, in which a heritable trait, such as darker fur color or narrower beak shape, lets organisms survive and reproduce better in a particular environment. Over generations, a heritable trait that provides a fitness advantage may become more and more common in a population, making the population better suited to its environment. This process is called adaptation.
Is this the definitive list?
Living organisms have many different properties related to being alive, and it can be hard to decide on the exact set that best defines life. Thus, different thinkers have developed different lists of the properties of life. For instance, some lists might include movement as a defining characteristic, while others might specify that living things carry their genetic information in the form of DNA. Still others might emphasize that life is carbon-based."
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Is anyone in suspended animation?
Biochemistry can't answer the question except to define convenient definitions that categorize things. Consider the topic of a soul: In a way a video game sprite is alive, and while we may not consider it to have a soul or a will there may be a sort of soul imagined by us. Who can say whether that soul exists or not? Biology cannot speak to this or say whether or not there is a soul. It can't eliminate video game sprites from having souls or from being life forms unless someone decides what counts as a lifeform first. It can only say what they do or do not have in common with other things. Maybe there is an agreed upon category which excludes video game sprites, but people decide what the category is.
PureX
Veteran Member
When it becomes able to act on it's own behalf.
If the organism has cells, dna, rna, that can metabolise, reproduce, have a life cycle and are perhaps capable of evolution then maybe it can be called life but actually pinning down what is life is kind of a big conundrum.
Take a look at the views of different bodies
There are over 100 definitions for 'life' and all are wrong
Yes, happens all the time.
syo
Well-Known Member
it has DNA
Thief
Rogue Theologian
Thief
Rogue Theologian
and is reaction to stimulation a line drawn?
I swallow water.
the water reacts to my chemistry
the molecules churn and bubble
in often predictable manner
if we are certain what the chemistry will do
is it the WILL of the chemistry?
where does the compulsion come from?
how does ANY substance KNOW to behave in that particular manner?
is substance alive?
waiting to TOUCH another substance
and some items are aloof
To swallow gold.....is expensive
but not reactive
how does gold KNOW to be noble?
I swallow water.
the water reacts to my chemistry
the molecules churn and bubble
in often predictable manner
if we are certain what the chemistry will do
is it the WILL of the chemistry?
where does the compulsion come from?
how does ANY substance KNOW to behave in that particular manner?
is substance alive?
waiting to TOUCH another substance
and some items are aloof
To swallow gold.....is expensive
but not reactive
how does gold KNOW to be noble?
syo
Well-Known Member
Everything is alive and knows its condition. The only difference between a mountain and a human is that humans have DNA. A mountain doesnot have a DNA. DNA gives instructions. So a human is created as a unit. A human consists of skin nail hair etc. A mountain isn't instructed by a dna. In the mountain there isn't an instruction to order how tall the mountain will become. I hope I make sense.