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TIME AND EXTENT. "If life is viewed as supple adaptation, then the most important life/non-life distinction involves a continuum because the activity of supple adaptability itself comes in degrees. Different systems can exhibit supple adaptation to different degrees, and a given system’s level of supple adaptation can fluctuate over time." https://lnkd.in/da-Njua View in LinkedIn

OPENING THE BLACK BOX. "A number of essential and specific dormancy genes have been identified, as well as chromatin organizers that influence seed dormancy induction. The release of dormancy has long been a black box, but the recent recognition of the important contribution of non-enzymatic processes, like oxidation, in the after-ripening process is starting to reveal the mechanisms behind this process." https://lnkd.in/dgHUjzK View in LinkedIn

LIFE TRANSITIONS. The borderline cases are where life transitions become most interesting, and troubling to those who want a tidy playbook. Viruses, seeds, frozen sperm, probiotic soup, mobile genetic elements and even computer code. And, as a consequence, artificial intelligence. One of our most compelling topics today. View in LinkedIn

BORDERLINE. "But the common sense view is put under stress by various borderline cases like viruses which are unable to replicate without a host and spores or frozen sperm which remain dormant and unchanging indefinitely but then "come back to life" when conditions become suitable. Furthermore, we all agree that the original life forms somehow emerged from a pre-biotic chemical soup, and this suggests that there is very little, if any, principled distinction between life and non-life." https://lnkd.in/da-Njua View in LinkedIn

COMMON SNIFF TEST. "Can things be more or less alive? Serious reflection about life quickly raises the question whether life is a boolean (black-or-white) property, as it seems at first blush, or whether it is a continuum property, coming in many shades of gray. Common sense leans towards the boolean view: a rabbit is alive and a rock isn’t." https://lnkd.in/da-Njua View in LinkedIn

VAGARIES OF OPINION. "When viruses were discovered, they were accepted as missing links between the inert world and living organisms. However, this idea was soon abandoned as information about their molecular parasitic nature accumulated." https://lnkd.in/dt9i8je View in LinkedIn

EXCLUSION. "If you look at a tree that shows all living organisms on it, you will not find viruses there. This is because viruses are completely dependent on another organism to live, and cannot survive without the other organism. Viruses cannot reproduce, or make more viruses, unless they are in, or on, another organism. But once they have access to the resources they need, viruses seem very much alive, as they reproduce and become part of the food chain." https://lnkd.in/e3zZDuE View in LinkedIn

TREE OF LIFE. "Darwin provided a great unifying theory for biology; its visual expression is the universal tree of life. The tree concept is challenged by the occurrence of horizontal gene transfer and...by the omission of viruses." https://lnkd.in/dB5sPBH View in LinkedIn

NON-AUTONOMOUS. "Dependence on another organism for survival is not unique to viruses, and even some bacteria and fungi can’t go it solo." Same can be said for computer viruses. https://lnkd.in/dBXpMbs View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES "parasitize essentially all biomolecular aspects of life. That is, they depend on the host cell for the raw materials and energy necessary for nucleic acid synthesis, protein synthesis, processing and transport, and all other biochemical activities that allow the virus to multiply and spread." https://lnkd.in/dHuVTgq View in LinkedIn