A cute thought!

[Guest guest]

The Definition of life ================ Think you know what life is? Guess again. Conventional biologists typically define life as anything that generally exhibits all of the following 4 properties. 1. Growth 2. Metabolism 3. Motion 4. Reproduction 5. Homeostasis (or responding to stimuli) However it turns out to be surprisingly difficult to consistently define life according to these or any other rules. For example, we would all agree that a mule or a drown bee is alive, although, be sterile, they violate property 4 above. Viruses have all the above properties and are sometimes considered to be living organisms, but not by certain biologists (aka "cell bigots") who believe that only cellular organisms can be considered alive. Fire and crystals have all the five life defining properties, but most of us would not consider them to be alive. What about the earth? It certainly has the properties listed above, with the exception of reproduction. If one can consider human beings nothing more than a large colony of living cells, the isn't the earth just a larger such a colony? What about the upcoming marriage of artificial intelligence and nanotech? (source: from the book "The universe - solved!"; URL: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=xB4wuDs8qCcC & pg=PA106 & lpg=PA110 & dq=graham+hancock+shaman & lr= & as_brr=0#v=onepage & q= & f=true) Love and regards, Sreenadh