Originally Posted by RSK
ok, mish and indi ---> i'm about to BREAK IT DOWN!
__________________________________________
rivers DO adapt to the enviornment: FACT
just as mountains do. Here is an example ----> why are the himalayers so TALL? it's because of the tectonic movements of continental 'shove'...
...therefore, just as rivers adapt to THEIR enviornment, so do Mountains.
are the above Alive? NO...
__________________________________________
Next example: are computers/the internet alive? NO...
however, can a computer reproduce itself. i say NO, but according to the above 'highly skewed' reasoning, i will leave room for a VERY VERY thin, maybe (but JUST for now)...
...ok, i see how you say the internet can 'evolve', humans control the internet, and the 'substance' of the internet is indirectly controlled this way...
are the above alive? NO....
___________________________________________
What makes somethings alive, and NOT others? Well, lets take a scientific approach:
does the item in question have orgainized structures arranged in unit cell(s)?
is the subject in question, capable of chemical and energy transformations?
can the subject in question maintain homeostasis in a changing external enviornment?
can the entity GROW? as to obtain aquisitions in the form of energy from the enviornment, and incoporate it into highly ordered structures?
can the entity respond to external stimuli as to elicit a physiological or behavioral response?
is the subject in question, capable of making copies of itself in the mechanism of dna transfer, as a reproduction?
can the entity evolve? as to change it's form, function or both. or even adapt to new enviornments, through the aquistion of these new forms or functions of the mutating and/or aquired forms?
using the biological perspective, a LIVING ENTITY must satisfy the above requirements...........ALL OF THEM.
Sure, maybe the examples above satisfy one or two, maybe three by a stretch, but does it satisfy ALL of them?
the REAL question, is whether or not a virus should be considered alive or not.....