Life
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Revision as of 21:03, 18 May 2007
“"Ah! Sweet mystery of life."”
~ Naughty Marietta, 1910
Life is the state of being alive. It is not death. It is not undeath. No, life is positive state of being and living; of consuming, growing, and reproducing. Human beings live, as do animals and plants and fungi and bacteria. Debate still rages as to whether viruses are alive. Or fire. I am alive. Or is my life just a systematic delusion I'm going through? Is life just a point of view? Being and consciousness, these are confusing. Life should be cut and dry. Either you are alive or dead. To be alive, you have a physical body, a corporeal presence. Why do we live, why are we here?
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What Is Life?
The study of life is a reflexive, self-referential study, because the only sentient beings in the universe are those which are alive. Only by being alive can one study. Living beings have been studying since they became self-aware exactly what is means to be alive. In order to live, it is agreed, one must first be born. Once one dies, one is no longer alive. So life is a period of time between birth and death. It is also a biological state, wherein the physical body is functioning. Thus, the cessation of function in any critical part of the body leads to the end of life, to death.
Life Cycle
In order to be alive, an organism must fulfill certain criteria. They must:
- have been born
- (need to) consume
- grow
- develop
- (be able to) reproduce
- eventually die
After all, what is life without any one of these things? Everything that lives is first born. Whether through mitosis, meiosis, gestation, whatever the case may be. They all must consume, or they die. They grow and develop in some way. They continue their species by reproducing, whether sexually or asexually, and then at some point they die. That which is immortal was never alive in the first place.
What Is Alive?
Just as certain numbers (like 0, infinity, and the square root of negative one) continue to defy categorization or the normal rules of math, there are beings that are difficult to place under either life or inanimity. Viruses, for example, are on the fringe of life. They contain biological material, they reproduce incessantly (ooh), and they consume other organisms, but they don't respond to their environment or reproduce on their own. Fire consumes, grows, and reproduces, but it's completely nonbiological. Artificial life, like robots, can think and act independently, reproduce, consume, and grow, but they're also nonbiological in nature. And what of God? Apparently not physical in any way, yet able to create or destroy at will, violating the laws of conservation of matter and energy. It has been suggested that no man can comprehend the existence of God, like a two-dimensional being looking up at us.
Life is...
A favorite pastime of amateur philosophers and epigrammists has always been making metaphors for life. I got no metaphors. But life is hard, life is easy. It sucks, it's great. It contains every experience we will ever have. Who can complain? Everyone. Life is bittersweet. Life is difficult and sad. Thomas Hobbes said it's "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Life is a peach tree, drifting through the cosmos, hiding from the rain. How the hell should I know? Life is something you just do, you just have. But we get bored so we end up talking and writing about it.
See also:
