Cyclone Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Life is defined using a number of capabilities that are measurable. Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, electrolyte concentration or sweating to reduce temperature. Organization: Being structurally composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life. Metabolism: Transformation of energy by converting chemicals and energy into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life. Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of anabolism than catabolism. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present. Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism to external chemicals, to complex reactions involving all the senses of multicellular organisms. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun (phototropism) and by chemotaxis. Reproduction: The ability to produce new individual organisms, either asexually from a single parent organism, or sexually from two parent organisms. Telepathy wouldn't hide any of this. Rocks however don't exhibit any of these characteristics. The most questionable of those would be the definition of organisation, there's nothing to say that alien life would have cells as we identify them, but it would have to have organisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 The funny thing about that advert is that your TV speakers probably can't reproduce the noise they claim to be sending! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamatron Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Life is defined using a number of capabilities that are measurable. Telepathy wouldn't hide any of this. Rocks however don't exhibit any of these characteristics. The most questionable of those would be the definition of organisation, there's nothing to say that alien life would have cells as we identify them, but it would have to have organisation. But if a rock did have telepathy it would be alive wouldn't it? It would be thinking and communicating with other rocks, therefore it would have intelligence and for the purposes of finding life on other planets it would be alive! Sorry its stupid I will stop now:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well, no. My computer has the ability to perform wireless communication, but it's not alive, if I install an alice program it could even have a conversation with you, one day it might be able to pass a turing test (well, not my PC, but some other PC). It definitely communicates with other computers, it responds to stimulus, it consumes resources, but it fails in a few key areas. Fire is an interesting one as well, unfortunately it lacks organisation, also it's not really a thing, it's a chemical reaction between two or more things. Something isn't alive unless it fulfills those criteria, magical abilities non withstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamatron Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well, no. My computer has the ability to perform wireless communication, but it's not alive, if I install an alice program it could even have a conversation with you, one day it might be able to pass a turing test (well, not my PC, but some other PC). It definitely communicates with other computers, it responds to stimulus, it consumes resources, but it fails in a few key areas. Fire is an interesting one as well, unfortunately it lacks organisation, also it's not really a thing, it's a chemical reaction between two or more things. Something isn't alive unless it fulfills those criteria, magical abilities non withstanding. I am talking about what we would consider magical but on an alien planet maybe it would be normal whoops I lied and carried on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well, no. My computer has the ability to perform wireless communication, but it's not alive, if I install an alice program it could even have a conversation with you, one day it might be able to pass a turing test (well, not my PC, but some other PC). It definitely communicates with other computers, it responds to stimulus, it consumes resources, but it fails in a few key areas. Fire is an interesting one as well, unfortunately it lacks organisation, also it's not really a thing, it's a chemical reaction between two or more things. Something isn't alive unless it fulfills those criteria, magical abilities non withstanding. I am talking about what we would consider magical but on an alien planet maybe it would be normal whoops I lied and carried on! I think there's some complication here between something being sentient and something being alive. As far as we know, nothing can be sentient without also being alive (I think), but this is what llamatron is suggesting (am I right?) COULD happen and we'd not know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 It's a pity none of the other lot have made an appearance to give the reasons why they believe humans are not animals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamatron Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I think there's some complication here between something being sentient and something being alive. As far as we know, nothing can be sentient without also being alive (I think), but this is what llamatron is suggesting (am I right?) COULD happen and we'd not know. I think so:hihi: I often hurt my own brain:D Further to that if it did happen we would have to redefine being alive wouldn't we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I am talking about what we would consider magical but on an alien planet maybe it would be normal whoops I lied and carried on! Magical means not explained by the laws of physics, going somewhere else doesn't alter the laws of physics, so whilst we could encounter things we can't yet explain, we won't encounter anything magical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I think so:hihi: I often hurt my own brain:D Further to that if it did happen we would have to redefine being alive wouldn't we? I think you could get sentience without organic life, but not without life at all. If it appeared to be sentient and yet not alive, then the only explanation I can think of would be that it's a construct (machine). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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