I was just thinking that a possible definition of life is ANYTHING THAT CONSUMES, transforming matter into energy, or energy into matter. So a rock itself would apparently be dead. Of course there's likely some life living on it, transforming bits of the rock into useful energy. We do the same with this rock called earth. So we are as alive as some bacteria or lichens on rocks. But then you must look up! See the Sun, it's ALIVE, as is every star you see. Stars consume hydrogen, transforming it into energy and using nuclear fusion, creates heavier elements and "die" when hydrogen is gone. And then there's black holes and quasars that also consume matter, transforming it. So in short, this definition of life means we are NOT ALONE! Life is everywhere you look! Just don't expect an intelligent conversation with the majority...
Never quite thought of it that way. But I’d definitely have to agree to live one must consume something to continue to exist as a living organism. I’ve just never looked at a star, a black hole or a quasar the same way I’ve looked at plants and animals. I dig your trip.
IMO, if you're gonna worship a living being (instead of one dead 2000 years), why not chose the Sun? The Sun is a living being that brings us LIGHT, WARMTH, ENERGY, PROTECTION (from most dangerous objects like comets and radiation beyond the heliophere) everyday. Does it look dead to you? The Sun's gravity keeps the Earth from drifting off. You can even say our lives revolve around the sun! Like any supreme being, the Sun holds the key to life and death on Earth. Yup, my God is real and powerful! If you don't believe me, try staring at my God for awhile. Trump tried! I showed you my God, now show me yours!
Interesting idea. I remember once reading a sci fi story about a planet where the personalities of different stars and planets all existed like people. So they interacted just like we do, having fun, arguing, even going to war, just like us. It was an interesting story, and your definition of life has echoes of the same thing. Furthermore, sun worship has been around since humans evolved the ability to name independent objects.
Btw, when we die, we no longer consume air, food or water. However, our body is technically still alive at the cellular level. This is because certain cells in our body take on new functions after we're dead. These cells do some thing they never did before. They start consuming our body, preparing it to be recycled. Once they're done, decay intensifies as external forces consume our flesh. Nice to think about, eh? So yes some of our cells have a life of their own! But the deeper question to answer is: Is all life conscious to some degree? Life must be aware of external surroundings to live, so that awareness must be a form of consciousness. Then it's only a matter of how much it needs to be aware of to survive. That determines the level of consciousness the life form possesses. Now intelligence might be a function of how complex the survival requirements of that life form. We are intelligent because to survive you need to be aware of so many things including cultural. Our society is so complex now. One could take it a step further... If we allow AI to remove much of the complexity from our lives, and survival is no longer dependent upon us being so aware of our surroundings and no longer need that cultural skill set, we lose our intelligence gradually, esp. in younger generations. Haven't you noticed this trend yet? BTW, I am qualified with a degree in certain subjects related to this discussion.
I’m going to guess consciousness is the thing to understand when discussing intelligent forms of life. And in that, the development (evolution) of our senses that have given us the ability to be aware of our surroundings and enhance our consciousness. And BTW, I am not educated in this subject. Hopefully that doesn’t mean I’m not qualified. I do like to trip out on these kinds topics.
We looked at the macro-cosmic universe, now let get small, I mean let's get REAL small (Steve Martin patent pending). On the submicroscopic level is there life? As science has delved into this they found that you can divide atoms into ever smaller particles so that there is far more variation not only at the quark level, but also at energy levels. So could you say a chemical reaction consumes matter and transforms it, like acid eating away at a rock. But is it alive? What is going on at the subatomic level? I can't answer that, but it's a good point to research.
