scholarly journals The Generalized Definition of Life

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
vivek kumar
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth

In this article, I propose and discuss a new definition of life. This new definition considers reproduction and evolution as major aspects of life. It brings into consideration a variety of other life forms like inorganic life, etc. In this study, I aim to present the possibility of various life forms and some of their properties, which might help understand the origin of life on earth and the existence of life in other parts of the cosmos. This new proposed definition of life is independent of the mode of evolution and general enough to consider all potential life forms. This article uses NASA’s definition of life as a structure to derive this generalized definition of life. Finding and exploring new living systems will definitely be very helpful in understanding the aspects of life. In order to explain some complex life forms, a new concept of addition of living systems is introduced in this article. This study underscores the need for further work to understand the origin and properties of living systems.

What is life?

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maynard Smith ◽  
Eors Szathmary
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth

Imagine that, when the first spacemen step out of their craft onto the surface of one of the moons of Jupiter, they are confronted by an object the size of a horse, rolling towards them on wheels, and bearing on its back a concave disc pointing towards the Sun. They will at once conclude that the object is alive, or has been made by something alive. If all they find is a purple smear on the surface of the rocks, they will have to work harder to decide. This is the phenotypic approach to the definition of life: a thing is alive if it has parts, or ‘organs’, which perform functions. William Paley explained the machine-like nature of life by the existence of a creator: today, we would invoke natural selection. There are, however, dangers in assuming that any entity with the properties of a self-regulating machine is alive, or an artefact. In section 2.2, we tell the story of a self-regulating atomic reactor, the Oklo reactor, which is neither. This story can be taken in one of three ways. First, it shows the dangers of the phenotypic definition of life: not all complex entities are alive. Second, it illustrates how the accidents of history can give rise spontaneously to surprisingly complex machine-like entities. The relevance of this to the origin of life is obvious. In essence, the problem is the following. How could chemical and physical processes give rise, without natural selection, to entities capable of hereditary replication, which would therefore, from then on, evolve by natural selection? The Oklo reactor is an example of what can happen. Finally, section 2.2 can simply be skipped: the events were interesting, but do not resemble in detail those that led to the origin of life on Earth. There is an alternative to the phenotypic definition of life. It is to define as alive any entities that have the properties of multiplication, variation and heredity. The logic behind this definition, first proposed by Muller (1966), is that a population of entities with these properties will evolve by natural selection, and hence can be expected to acquire the complex adaptations for survival and reproduction that are characteristic of living things.

Explaining the Origin of Life is not Enough for a Definition of Life

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of

scholarly journals LIFE AS WE DO NOT KNOW IT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
soumya banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Computational Simulations ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Carbon Based

Information plays a critical role in complex biologicalsystems. This article proposes a role for information processing in questions around the origin of life and suggests how computational simulations may yield insights into questions related to the origin of life. Such a computational model of the origin of life would unify thermodynamics with information processing and we would gain an appreciation of why proteins and nucleotides evolved as the substrate of computation andinformation processing in living systems that we see on Earth. Answers to questions like these may give us insights into noncarbon based forms of life that we could search for outside Earth. I hypothesize that carbon-based life forms are only one amongst a continuum of life-like systems in the universe.Investigations into the role of computational substrates that allow information processing is important and could yield insights into:1) novel non-carbon based computational substrates thatmay have “life-like” properties, and2) how life may have actually originated from non-life onEarth. Life may exist as a continuum between non-life and life and we may have to revise our notion of life and how common it is in the universe.Looking at life or life-like phenomena through the lens ofinformation theory may yield a broader view of life.

scholarly journals The Origin of Life on Earth and the Design of Alternative Life Forms

2017 ◽  
Vol 01 (02) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack W. Szostak
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acids ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Chemical Energy ◽  
Synthetic Chemistry ◽  
Broad Scope ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

To understand the origin of life on Earth, and to evaluate the potential for life on exoplanets, we must understand the pathways that lead from chemistry to biology. Recent experiments suggest that a chemically rich environment that provides the building blocks of membranes, nucleic acids and peptides, along with sources of chemical energy, could result in the emergence of replicating, evolving cells. The broad scope of synthetic chemistry suggests that it may be possible to design and construct artificial life forms based upon a very different biochemistry than that of existing biology.

scholarly journals BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE IN METEORITES MAY LEAD TO PANSPERMIA ORIGIN OF LIFE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 235-251
Author(s):  
Y. V. Subba Rao
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Electromagnetic Force ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Biological Molecules ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Universe

              The current hypothesis leads to the panspermia origin of life, which is based on the scientific principle of electromagnetic force interaction with matter. Electromagnetic force (Sunlight) interacts with inorganic chemistry available to us given out by the stars in the universe plausibly triggers the formation of extra-terrestrial biological molecules of proto cells under abiotic conditions, as evidenced by their presence in meteorites.' Proto cells’ might theoretically give rise to living organisms with a manifested soul, allowing 'Ribose' to be formed from ice grains hit by sunlight for RNA and DNA at the same time. The presence of life's building blocks and other important organic chemicals like ribose in meteorites, including some microscopic life forms that aren't native to Earth, may have led to the 'Panspermia Origin of Life' and the 'Evolution of Life on Earth' which is evidenced by the definition of 'Meteorites' in Vedic Scriptures, such as the "Bhagavad Gita" (3000 BC) and "Brihat Samhita" (520 AD) that they are the souls of righteous people who have returned to earth to be reborn.

scholarly journals Beauty of Life in Dynamical Systems: An Aesthetic Viewpoint of Life

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
soumya banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Aesthetic Sense ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Answering Questions

This submission emphasizes the beauty of mathematics and dynamical systems especially in questions around origin of life. Our conception of life is shaped by what we see around us on Earth. What life forms might we expect to see on alien planets? Would they be carbon-based like us or can they be even more exotic? Answering questions like these mean we must come up with an objective definition of life. We have previously hypothesized that an objective definition of life is that it should be capable of information processing.Our work also suggests that we may need an “aesthetic sense” to recognize life we have never seen before. Such aesthetic versions of life-like systems can be generated using the computational framework presented here. Our computational framework combines dynamical systems with deep learning to generate aesthetically appealing forms of life-like systems.

scholarly journals In Medias Res: A Resolution of Some False Dichotomies in Origins of Life Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Frohlich ◽  
Richard Austin Choate
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Body Problem ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Mind Body Problem ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mind

In this paper, we address some of the false dichotomies that pervade contemporary scientific and philosophical research about the origin of life. These dichotomies can be divided into two categories, the methodological and the conceptual. In the first case, we focus on providing an alternative to the problems and paradoxes which arise from trying to eliminate a definition of life from scientific research into life’s origins. In the second case, we illustrate how origin of life research is confined by the same conceptual paradigm which continues to plague the mind-body problem. Based on this analysis, we then offer some general criteria that a definition of life should meet.

scholarly journals Defining the envelope for the search for life in the Universe

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 697-698
Author(s):  
Lynn J. Rothschild
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Chemical Parameters ◽  
Theoretical Possibility ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Set Constraints ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
The Universe

AbstractThe search for life in the universe relies on defining the limits for life and finding suitable conditions for its origin and evolution elsewhere. From the biological perspective, a conservative approach uses life on earth to set constraints on the environments in which life can live. Conditions for the origin of life, even on earth, cannot yet be defined with certainty. Thus, we will describe what is known about conditions for the origin of life and limits to life on earth as a template for life elsewhere, with a particular emphasis on such physical and chemical parameters as temperature, pH, salinity, desiccation and radiation. But, other life forms could exist, thus extending the theoretical possibility for life elsewhere. Yet, this potential is not limitless, and so constraints for life in the universe will be suggested.

Pyrite and the Origins of Life

Pyrite ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Rickard
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Origins Of Life ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Ancient India ◽  
Pyrite Formation ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Relationship

If you have been reading this book since the beginning, you will not be surprised by now to find that you have come across a chapter documenting the involvement of pyrite in the origin of life. This is because you will have read in this book how pyrite has been at the root of many fundamental discoveries about the nature of our world. So you do not suffer more than eyebrow-raising surprise and maybe a gentle throat-clearing in learning that pyrite is contributing to our current understanding of the origins of life. By contrast, if you have dived in at Chapter 9 you probably look at the title of this chapter with disbelief. After all, what could be the connection between a common glitzy mineral and the origin of life? The more diligent reader will have already learned that pyrite formation is intimately associated with biology because most of it is produced by bacteria that extract their oxygen from sulfate and produce hydrogen sulfide. This relationship is so overweening today that pyrite formation controls many fundamental aspects of the Earth’s environment. So what happens if we extend this line of inquiry back to the beginnings of geologic time? We have already seen that the characteristics of ancient pyrite are one of the main sources of information about the nature of the early Earth. The consequence of this is that we know quite a bit about the relationship between pyrite and early life on Earth. In this chapter, we further explore this and review the laboratory work that implicates pyrite itself in the original syntheses of the self-replicating biomolecules that assembled to produce Earth’s first life forms. The thesis that life developed from nonbiological chemistry is a very old idea stretching back through Anaximander in 6th-century BCE Greece to the Vedic writings of ancient India around 1500 BCE and is often called abiogenesis.

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