Is there inherently anything “alive” about a singular cell? I know it fits the criteria for living but is it not just a bunch of complex chemical processes on repeat?
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>just a bunch of complex chemical processes on repeat?
I mean, you’ve basically just hit on the definition of life, there. Life is a series of chemical processes that are capable of signaling and reacting to stimuli, and that are capable of replicating and sustaining themselves. A bacterium or other single-celled lifeform by this definition is every bit as alive as you or me.
Everything else that we like to tack on regarding life – thought, feeling, meaning – that’s all just the human condition, that’s our own baggage tacked on to what biology is forming. If we found self-replicating single cells on another planet, we’d have found life out there in the universe; the simplest form of life, but life nonetheless.
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