Editing Talk:2307: Alive Or Not
|
Please sign your posts with ~~~~ |
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
| Latest revision | Your text | ||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
When looking at viruses, I consider them made of the things of life (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids), but are not actually alive as they have no metabolism and can not reproduce on their own; they need to co-opt the protein production facility of truly living cells in order to reproduce. Without a host, they just sit there (or maybe blow around on the wind). Also without metabolism, they can not starve to death, like bacteria and other single-cell organisms that get into the wrong environment. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 15:36, 16 May 2020 (UTC) | When looking at viruses, I consider them made of the things of life (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids), but are not actually alive as they have no metabolism and can not reproduce on their own; they need to co-opt the protein production facility of truly living cells in order to reproduce. Without a host, they just sit there (or maybe blow around on the wind). Also without metabolism, they can not starve to death, like bacteria and other single-cell organisms that get into the wrong environment. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 15:36, 16 May 2020 (UTC) | ||
:Agreed that the lack of metabolism is a big thing. On the other hand, ''all'' organisms need an acceptable habitat to be able to reproduce, and viruses are no different: their habitat is their target cells, where they can reproduce like mad. Furthermore, viruses can be infected and killed by other viruses, namely by {{w|virophages}}, and it's hard to see how they can be killed if they weren't alive to begin with. Whether they're "alive" depends only on one's definition of the word; it can be interesting to discuss this because it reveals what people think "alive" means, but not because there's a true answer. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 22:18, 18 May 2020 (UTC) | :Agreed that the lack of metabolism is a big thing. On the other hand, ''all'' organisms need an acceptable habitat to be able to reproduce, and viruses are no different: their habitat is their target cells, where they can reproduce like mad. Furthermore, viruses can be infected and killed by other viruses, namely by {{w|virophages}}, and it's hard to see how they can be killed if they weren't alive to begin with. Whether they're "alive" depends only on one's definition of the word; it can be interesting to discuss this because it reveals what people think "alive" means, but not because there's a true answer. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 22:18, 18 May 2020 (UTC) | ||
| − | |||
Well, this raises the question where the sun (or any main sequence star) fall on this list. Is it just a really big thermonuclear fire? | Well, this raises the question where the sun (or any main sequence star) fall on this list. Is it just a really big thermonuclear fire? | ||
