Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to What's your definition of life?

Not If You Read Almost Any Biology Text

Life requires the ability to replicate structure, pass complex information to subsequent generations, and maybe most importantly evolve. You'll get lots of different wording from different sources, but those are the key requirements most will address. Fire fails miserably, and crystals fair poorly against such standards. Viruses are in limbo because they require help to replicate, but I'd say given their commonality of biochemistry with fully qualified life I'd consider them alive.

Regards,
Mark

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