stellarfury t1_jbqop8n wrote on March 10, 2023 at 11:36 PM

Reply to comment by Nymaz in I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt

I honestly think that most microbial stuff (prions, viruses, even bacteria to some extent) is closer to machinery than anything a layman would consider "life."

Sure, it's autonomous self-replicating machinery that actively seeks and processes its own fuel, but... well, you could design a macroscale machine that does this.

You wouldn't want to, because you'd be Ted Faro, but it's possible.

Elladan71 t1_jbrpzwp wrote on March 11, 2023 at 4:46 AM

Heck, who's to say that having achieved sapience, those self-replicating machines aren't alive? Racists, that's who!