Ok science bitches, if you're so smart answer me this simple

>>8591333
Either way they're not conscious so it doesn't matter, faggot.

What does it mean to be alive?

>>8591333
Check'd

Anyway, they only serve one function: to bend their knees and lower their ass to the ground whenever something else tells them to.

By extrapolation, they're precisely as alive as your mom.

>>8591333
They're not now fuck off

>>8591333
They're about as alive as the average cell, they just eat and mate in a way that is different from our generally accepted view

File: 1420143617053.png (367KB, 500x400px) Image search: [Google]

367KB, 500x400px

>>8591333
Why dont the mods just delete these kinds of threads whenever they pop up?

Nice trips tho.

Adaptive bio mechanical tool meant to sterilize worlds. It worked fine until it hit on a tough nut, Earth, with it's bizzare freak eco system as if gathered from million worlds and artificially engineered. Ultimately, it too joined the zoo.

>>8591333
By what definition of alive? Are talking Oxford or philosophy? By the Oxford definition they are not. The philosophy of life hasn't tackled this much but take a crack at it

"Alive" is poorly defined at that scale. Viruses exist in a gray area where they certainly don't fit cleanly into the category of life but they still exhibit some characteristics that we typically only see in living things.

It's a bit weird to say that something isn't alive but still carries protein-coding information and is still subject to evolutionary forces.

>>8591333
who care...

>>8591333
>implying "being alive" is something objective

This question is no more meaningful than
>are cellphones computers?

A virus is not alive because it needs to exist withing a highly specialized environment in order to function. (I.E. another living cell)
Much the same way humans are not alive because they need to exist withing a highly specialized environment. (I.E. a planet with moderate temperatures, oxygen atmosphere, moderate gravity, ample water)

At least, this is what space faring aliens will think when they discover humans on the Earth.