• Question: what does it mean to be alive

    Asked by to Edward, Ian, Mathew, Naomi, sakshisharda on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sakshi Sharda

      Sakshi Sharda answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hi katy8888

      I think that it is a very philosophical question! I feel that being alive is akin to being conscious…it’s a very human thing.
      What are your thoughts on this?

    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      A very interesting question!

      I think being alive is sensing what is around us and having a feeling of self awareness, but this is a very debatable subject…..what do you think “alive” means?

    • Photo: Ian Stephenson

      Ian Stephenson answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      “life” is a tricky concept, but its generally defined that something alive must feed, grow, reproduce and respond to its environment.

      However it’s been pointed out that “fire” meets these criteria, so additional criteria typically get added depending what we’re looking at.

      The biggest problem with answering a “big” question like this is that when we study most things we start by collecting a bunch of them to get a feel for what we’re dealing with. For example if you’re studying birds, you’d go out and look at a some different kinds of birds. Once you’ve got a representative sample you start to organise them and group them together.

      The problem with trying to figure out what “life” might mean is we’ve only got one colosely related set of examples: this planet. It’s entirely possible that there are things that are defintaly life that we just wouldn’t see as life.

      We define life as “animals” and “plants”, but imagine if you were learning about birds, but you happened to live in the antarctic! You go outside, and learn about all the different birds you can see! The idea that birds might fly is crazy! If someone shows you an eagle, its so different to the penguins you’ve seen that you might not even recognise it. You certainly wouldn’t think to go looking for birds in the SKY!

      I think we can say that certain things are “alive”, but there are things that are going to be more fuzzy…

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