# When are you considered alive? Birth or conception? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252 "2002-04-18T02:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tarkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Tarkus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarkus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/1 "2002-04-18T02:46:18Z")
When are you considered alive; when you are born or when you are conceived? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/2 "2002-04-18T02:48:50Z")
It depends on who is doing the considering, of course. If you refer to everyone, then the answer is ā€˜bothā€™. ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/3 "2002-04-18T02:54:00Z")
I think the question is pretty much mootā€¦from a purely scientific standpoint, the conceived embryo meets all the criterion for a life form. (Iā€™m vaguely recalling from high school biology that thereā€™s something like eight conditions for something to be a ā€œlifeā€ā€¦you know, consumes, respirates, cell division, etc.) The issue you might be getting at indirectly is, where does ā€œpersonhoodā€ beginā€¦unless Iā€™m mistaken, and then Iā€™ll just slink back to MPSIMSā€¦ šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/4 "2002-04-18T05:22:19Z")
The question seems to be ā€œWhen are you considered a human being,ā€ seeing how even cells are aliveā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/5 "2002-04-18T08:15:14Z")
I thought this link (to a thread where the topic has been discussed before) might be helpful: [When does a human life actually start?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=75074) ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/6 "2002-04-18T09:30:27Z")
A conceptus is certainly alive, if only because it can die. But as others have pointed out this is generally considered a trivial question. The more difficult question is ā€œwhen does a conceptus become a human person?ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Tarkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Tarkus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarkus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/7 "2002-04-18T13:45:09Z")
What Iā€™m getting at is, are we ALL nine months older than we think we are? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/8 "2002-04-18T14:00:54Z")
Parts of us, yes. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/9 "2002-04-18T14:01:55Z")
In some Asian cultures (some do this in China, I think), oneā€™s age is indeed considered to begin at the date of conception. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/10 "2002-04-18T14:14:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > **(Iā€™m vaguely recalling from high school biology that thereā€™s something like eight conditions for something to be a ā€œlifeā€ā€¦you know, consumes, respirates, cell division, etc.)** I remember something like this from biology as well. I donā€™t know that ā€˜cell divisionā€™ is one of the criteria though (is a virus alive?..I donā€™t know myself). Imagine you created an incredibly complex robot or computer (e.g. Data from Star Trek or HAL from 2001). Is there a point where such a thing might be considered alive without the functions of respiration, reproduction and so on? Unfortunately defining what exactly constitutes ā€˜lifeā€™ is a surprisingly difficult question. The most oft used example Iā€™ve seen is that by many defined lists such as that described above fire might be considered alive (although I donā€™t think anyone believes fire is actually alive). Sorry for the hijackā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/11 "2002-04-18T14:40:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*In some Asian cultures (some do this in China, I think), oneā€™s age is indeed considered to begin at the date of conception. \*\* More or less. They also think the nose is the first part formed, and thats where pointing at your nose from a side angle becomes an insult, especially with the Cantonese (meaning is that I am your ancestor, eg you are my illigitimate offspring). In China, your age on official documents is from the date of birth. People celebrate different ages on occaision, and may or may not add a year. Taiwan, at least in the 1980ā€™s would add a year to someoneā€™s age. I remember an overjoyed 20 year old calendar aged Taiwanese who discovered that he would be able to get into 21 and over bars in the US since his passport age was 21. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-you-considered-alive-birth-or-conception/104252/12 "2002-04-18T14:41:19Z")
Age is counted from birth. It is called birthday, not conceptionday.