The idea of fire is a good arguement but it should be noted that as fire spreads it is not a matter of reproduction but rather a matter of growth.
Thought shouldn't be necessary for life, are all animals capable of thought? Ameobas, paramesiaum? Do viruses count as thinking life? Or the hive minds of ants and bees? Not by a standard definition of thought.
I agree that robots are not yet capable of high-level (read human-like) life but this lies in the handicaps of technology being unable to handle the number of sensory inputs and outputs required. For years now people have been creating low-level life robots (http://set.lanl.gov:80/programs/robotics/concept. htm) that emulate certain principles of life without programming.
In conclusion while I agree that the definitions of life are very loose it would be wrong to say that only humankind is life and everything else is dead.
Life isn't dependent on intelligence, a hamster or lemming is alive yet they don't have the intelligence necessary to decide that jumping off a cliff is a bad idea. Life is not intelligence.
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The idea of fire is a good arguement but it should be noted that as fire spreads it is not a matter of reproduction but rather a matter of growth. Thought shouldn't be necessary for life, are all animals capable of thought? Ameobas, paramesiaum? Do viruses count as thinking life? Or the hive minds of ants and bees? Not by a standard definition of thought. I agree that robots are not yet capable of high-level (read human-like) life but this lies in the handicaps of technology being unable to handle the number of sensory inputs and outputs required. For years now people have been creating low-level life robots (http://set.lanl.gov:80/programs/robotics/concept. htm) that emulate certain principles of life without programming.
In conclusion while I agree that the definitions of life are very loose it would be wrong to say that only humankind is life and everything else is dead.
Life isn't dependent on intelligence, a hamster or lemming is alive yet they don't have the intelligence necessary to decide that jumping off a cliff is a bad idea. Life is not intelligence.