VERY IMPORTANT PETITION. spent a lot of time on it.

[Saranagata]

@DianaFr you can do that from a body in  a casket

[Keryo Koffa]

5 hours ago, DianaFr said:

If I can isolate DNA from it and grow it in the lab, it's alive. Period. 

If I synthesize DNA from atoms and grow it in the lab, when did it become alive?

Edited September 20 by Keryo Koffa

[DianaFr]

1 hour ago, Saranagata said:

@DianaFr you can do that from a body in  a casket

Body in a casket used to be alive. In fact, the ability to die is a good way to distinguish between living and non-living things. Which makes plants belong to living things.

[DianaFr]

1 hour ago, Keryo Koffa said:

If I synthesize DNA from atoms and grow it in the lab, when did it become alive?

How do you synthesize DNA from atoms and make it come alive? Sounds like science fiction to me. Even if you use the right building blocks to synthesize DNA (not atoms), it's not going to be alive. You will just get ... a lot of DNA.

What I mean is - if an organism carries genetic material (i.e. its evolutionary origin can be traced) and can be reproduced or cultured (i.e. it consists of independently functioning unit(s) that under the right conditions propagate and/or exert a biological function in response to stimuli) it is a living thing. Plants have and do all that.

 

 

[Keryo Koffa]

1 hour ago, DianaFr said:

How do you synthesize DNA from atoms and make it come alive? Sounds like science fiction to me. Even if you use the right building blocks to synthesize DNA (not atoms), it's not going to be alive. You will just get ... a lot of DNA.

What I mean is - if an organism carries genetic material (i.e. its evolutionary origin can be traced) and can be reproduced or cultured (i.e. it consists of independently functioning unit(s) that under the right conditions propagate and/or exert a biological function in response to stimuli) it is a living thing. Plants have and do all that.

 

The question of aliveness is a fascinating one though!
Like: How does something become alive and how did life originate?
Well, AI is getting pretty lively now, innit? 😁

[Thought Art]

@Keryo Koffa No, AI is not getting lively at all