When we define “the economy” as “life,” what follows? Dollar bills are cells? No, they are not cells. They power the economy only through human recognition, not on their own physical contribution.
Tag: definition of life
Could really powerful AI be considered a life form?
An AI theorist makes that case to a technical writer…
Vague words in science: Vague or plague?
The worst part of witch hunts in science is that they so often involve controversies over words without precise definitions,
Altruism? In viruses?
How can viruses have altruism if they are not alive? Let’s assume that this is not an argument for panpsychism (You are conscious, sure, but so is your coffee mug.) It seems to be an argument that viruses behave as life forms do.
Gerald Joyce no longer uses the NASA “must show Darwinian evolution” definition of life
Though he helped develop it. Recently, a problem has arisen round efforts to create a synthetic cell. Gerald Joyce, now of the Salk Institute, helped NASA come up with a very widely used definition of life, “Life is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution.” But, as medicl historian Rebecca Wilbanks explains at Aeon, In 2009, Read More…