BIO: Defining "Life"

Eliezer Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Thu, 09 Jan 1997 20:21:24 -0600

> It has always seemed obvious to me that our narrow definition of life is
> hardly the criteria for such a vast place as the universe.

Life is traditionally defined as things that can move, reproduce, and so
on, but even this simple definition excludes mules, who are sterile.

I define Life as:
1) Anything designed primarily by evolution.
2) Anything sentient.

-- 
         sentience@pobox.com      Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
          http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
           http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.