Y’know what… I can’t do this anymore. I may not believe in god, but I do have a Life.
Best wishes on your travels. “Sorta looks like life”—no. Shows great activity which is one of the foundations of life, yes. There are many organisms that thrive at the bottom of the ocean where volcanic activity is present. Such could be the case with Io. Why not?
I see what you did there.
I like your way of thinking. If we consider life as a species as opposed to life as an individual organism, we have a much broader view of life.
I like the definition “a chemical system capable of undergoing evolution via natural selection.”
I like that one. But of course, that would go beyond simply plant and animal life, wouldn’t it?
The two kingdom model you are implying is decades out of date. But yes, it is meant to accomodate plants, animals, fungi, various groups once called protists, bacteria, archeans, viruses, possibly viriods, virusoids, and satellite viruses, but probably not prions. It also would include any self-replicating evolving non-protein/nucleic acid chemical systems that might possibly be discovered elsewhere, such as in one of the larger moons of one of a gas giants.
What it does not include is fire, volcanos, clouds, lightning bolts, snowflakes, or sand dunes.
People seem to be having more trouble with your definition of God than they are with the more traditional definitions.
Interesting. At least it is a pretty wide latitude definition, certainly beyond plants and animals anyway. By this definition, there could well be “life” elsewhere in the solar system, let alone the universe.
Ain’t that the truth! Old habits die hard it seems.
By any definition we’ve ever used this is true. There’s nothing special about this definition. All DG did was apply that to the existing biological categories.
How would one determine whether or not life exists using this definition? Does it rely on longitudinal study in order to see the evolutionary aspect?
You need to identify genes or some other analog for passing traits to other generations.
Viruses are a fun one, since they only seem to be alive when they are within a host organism. Or has that all changed since decades ago when I was learning rudimentary biology?
That’s the hope. Otherwise, we’re MOBs.
There is no consensus on wherther or not to concider viruses to be alive (which itself makes mockery of your definition of life) but I’m willing to entertain the position that viruses are highly streamlined endoparasites (taking them a few steps beyond mitochondria and chloroplasts.)
(Plus–wow, your science education really is from the plant/animal two kingdom model. Your information is profoundly out of date.)
That’s a good definition, but is there anything simpler that would work for the layman? I don’t think one should have to know that much about science in order to have a discussion over the similarities between God and Life.
In that most descriptions of God have to be metaphors, what is there about life that we might consider God-like or a creative force in the universe? For me, the fact that life exists at all is a pretty big miracle. That we have been unable to find signs of life in any of the other trillions of places in the universe so far suggests that life is a pretty rare thing. This planet, with its 23 degree inclination that creates seasons and its perfect temperature, plus or minus 30 degrees from zero Celsius for the most part, so water can exist in all three states, is so perfect for supporting life that we usually take it for granted.
Now if God (or some life force) created all we see, then I imagine we would have to include everything in the universe, beyond just life, because that is all part of our universe. At the point, the term “Life” actually falls short, though it does describe a lot. I’m just spitballing here, but one thing of which I am convinced is that the traditional definitions of God just don’t work for me any more. I’m more atheistic in my views today, but I still believe in an all-powerful life force. Maybe I should have been a Jedi.
“My” information is the first thing that appeared in a Google search for the word “life.” It’s a starting point, that’s all. If you have something better, let’s try that out.
Does God have foundations?