# Which is more "ALIVE", an egg or a sperm?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-alive-an-egg-or-a-sperm/518354>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 21, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-alive-an-egg-or-a-sperm/518354 "2009-11-21T00:44:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-alive-an-egg-or-a-sperm/518354/21 "2009-11-23T00:49:57Z")

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> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Neither can red blood cells. Or a sterile person or animal for that matter. Reproduction is a common feature of life, but not the defining one.

More to the point, neither can a male or female human.

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**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-alive-an-egg-or-a-sperm/518354/22 "2009-11-23T00:55:55Z")

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> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Neither can red blood cells. Or a sterile person or animal for that matter. Reproduction is a common feature of life, but not the defining one.

Agreed. Perhaps a more complete answer I should have given was that egg and sperm do not fit the classical definition of what constitutes being ‘alive’ and therefore the original question is meaningless.

Upon further reading of the OP, I think I’m taking this question way too seriously. Woosh.

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**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-alive-an-egg-or-a-sperm/518354/23 "2009-11-23T01:08:00Z")

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> [@Taenia\_spp](#):
>
> Agreed. Perhaps a more complete answer I should have given was that egg and sperm do not fit the classical definition of what constitutes being ‘alive’ and therefore the original question is meaningless.

As I said in my earlier post, that’s incorrect. Many organisms which reproduce sexually are unable to reproduce without another organism, but they certainly fit the classical definition of being alive.

The original question is meaningless because both are alive. Biologists have had a hard enough time trying to define life; defining gradations of it is just silly.

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