> [!tldr] What is "life" is an unsolved question Neither science nor philosophy have an answer to "what is 'life'? What makes something 'alive' or not?" We have devised some *characteristics* of things we call "living" - but pretty much every characteristic we come up with also could be applied to things that we don't consider "alive". Incomplete list of examples: - Self replication - Metabolism of inputs - Responding to stimuli - Evolution It's not clear if this question is purely philosophical or if it could actually be a scientific one. See a book called "The 5th Miracle" for more. **** # More ## Source - [[13 Things That Don't Make Sense]]