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From: sa209@utb.shv.hb.se (Claes Andersson)
Subject: Re: "What is Life?"
Message-ID: <1995Feb1.194004.17652@gdunix.gd.chalmers.se>
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References: <1995Jan26.153830.4455@gdunix.gd.chalmers.se> <3gbhj1$klg@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM> <3ghi64$osf@hptemp1.cc.umr.edu> <3gje3b$t4b@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 01:58:15 GMT
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holtz@netcord.Eng.Sun.COM (Brian Holtz) wrote:
>In article <3ghi64$osf@hptemp1.cc.umr.edu>,
>Christopher Rickey <fenian@saucer.cc.umr.edu> wrote:
>>
>>: Life is the ability to reproduce and evolve.  A more involved
>>: definition is required if we want to be able to tell living things
>>: from inanimate, unborn, and dead things.  An entity can be
>>: considered alive if and only if it 1) is of a kind that usually can

Hmm.. I like this! What a rule! The word "usually" is generally somewhat
funny to find in a rule :-)

>>: reproduce and evolve, and 2) has achieved independence of a parent's

Parent's? Is that really something that should appear in a fundamental description
of life? A definition of life must not require life, it will be a paradox!

>>: direct, continuous, and non-fungible assistance to its environmental
>>: interactions, and 3) is able to reproduce or interact with its
>>: environment.
>>

Of course, most life as we know it corresponds to these three points but
it is more like an observation of general features of life.

Claes Andersson. University of Bors. Sweden
