There is a distinction between life and things that are alive.
Life includes things that are are alive, cats. It also includes things that are not alive but are the byproducts of life processes – sofas. And in between are viruses – organisms that have no homeostasis and cannot reproduce without host cells – meaning they are not constructors.
Life is a process that gathers and structures outcomes that are alive. Even when those organisms die they are a part of life.
The authors cite John von Neumann as having come up with the idea of universal constructors – machines that can process information in such a way as to reproduce themselves. This process is part of life…or perhaps has life in it.
SOURCE: Aeon What Can Schrodinger’s cat tell us about 3D printing on Mars?
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Some of the particular qualities that give something a degree of life: The Degree of Life in All Things
