Solesaver t1_irnodbj wrote on October 9, 2022 at 5:25 PM

Reply to comment by Shadpool in What lifeform has the shortest genetic sequence? by teafuck

They actually aren't doing any of that. They're literally just floating around. Entirely inert.

The generally accepted definition of life is: the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

Viruses don't do any of that. There is no reasonable definition of life that includes viruses that doesn't include a crystal lattice. They're just patterns found in nature that due to their environments are more likely to be replicated than most. They don't actually do anything though.

Longjumping_Youth281 t1_irrppbt wrote on October 10, 2022 at 3:14 PM

Right. This is how I think of them also. Doesn't life also necessitate some sort of metabolism?

Viruses don't take anything in from the environment and like metabolize it. They just seem to be floating sacks of chemicals that necessitate their reproduction. I mean I guess in a certain sense you could say that about everything that is alive but the other stuff, like us for example, actively take in nutrients and metabolize them

Solesaver t1_irrus8c wrote on October 10, 2022 at 3:48 PM

We can only imagine a life form that doesn't metabolize but does everything else required of life. I don't think it's a requirement though. Still, it's pretty hard to grow and change, have functional activity, or reproduce without a metabolism. Information theory may even say that's impossible, but I don't think it's been applied to that problem before.