We must be able to fully define the point at which we consider something as alive as opposed to inanimate before we can give a sufficient investigation into the process.Anybody here have an idea of how we can do this?
I would suggest that those things that we call "alive" have these properties:
1) The ability to utilize energy and matter in the environment to construct/maintain itself and its functions (if any)
2) The ability to, through some process, make more of itself
3) Possession of a mechanism for heritable change
I submit that this describes everything that we refer to as alive. (I don't consider viruses or prions alive as they meet only one of these criteria. Perhaps biologists disagree.)