It is an important question. Many of us may be familiar with the scientific explanation. Let's learn a little about what wise people have said.
***
Every name here carries a body of work, not a quotation.
None of them ever said these words out loud. But if you’ve spent enough time inside their books, essays, paintings, theories, and obsessions, you can feel why they’re here.
Dostoevsky’s world aches with moral torment and spiritual suffering.
Socrates treats life as an examination of the soul.
Aristotle reduces chaos into reason and structure.
Nietzsche stares straight at power and refuses to look away.
Freud pulls life apart until only death instinct remains.
Picasso fractures reality and calls it art.
Gandhi insists love is the only force that lasts.
Schopenhauer sees suffering as the engine beneath it all.
Russell frames existence as competition.
Jobs turns belief into creation.
Einstein trusts knowledge.
Hawking clings to hope.
And Kafka; always Kafka, doesn’t offer answers, only beginnings.
This isn’t a list of quotes.
It’s a map of minds.
Life doesn’t change.
Our interpretations do.
(Collected)
***
Scientific explanation of life in brief.
Scientifically, life isn't one single thing but a complex process defined by shared characteristics: homeostasis (self-regulation), organization (cells), metabolism (energy use), growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction. NASA defines life as a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution, highlighting its chemical basis and ability to change over generations. Essentially, life is a dynamic system that uses energy to maintain order, replicate, and evolve. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Key Characteristics of Life
- Organisation: All known life is cellular and highly structured.
- Homeostasis: Maintaining a stable internal environment despite external changes.
- Metabolism: Using energy and nutrients for chemical reactions (eating, breathing, etc.).
- Growth & Development: Increasing in size and complexity.
- Response to Stimuli: Reacting to environmental changes.
- Reproduction: Creating new, similar organisms (sexually or asexually).
- Evolution/Adaptation: Changing over time in response to pressures. [1, 2, 5]
Scientific Challenges in Defining Life
- No single perfect definition: Many proposed definitions exist, and exceptions (like viruses, which need hosts to replicate) complicate things. [3, 6]
- Biochemistry vs. Definition: While all known life is carbon-based and uses DNA, alien life might be different. [4, 7]
- Molecular Engines: Some biologists see life as networks of tiny molecular machines (heat engines) that perform work and reduce entropy (disorder). [8]
In short, science views life as an intricate, self-sustaining chemical process characterised by specific functions, allowing it to persist and evolve in diverse environments. [1, 4, 5]
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