Hi All;) .. What is life all about?;)?

Question

Thanks, for answering, in advance!;)

Answer 1

YOU MUST HAVE TO KNOW WHAT THE LIFE IS
READ IT CAREFULLY...

Life is the characteristic state of organisms. Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based with complex organization, having a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and—through natural selection—adapt.

An entity with the above properties is considered life in conventional biology. However, the growing field of Biosemiotics, defines life very differently. Life is considered not just from the perspectives of molecules and chemistry, but as signs conveyed and interpreted by other living signs in a variety of ways, including by means of molecules. In this sense, biosemiotics takes for granted and respects the complexity of living processes as revealed by the existing fields of biology -- from molecular biology to brain science and behavioural studies -- however, biosemiotics attempts to bring together separate findings of the various disciplines of biology (including evolutionary biology) into a new and more unified perspective on the central phenomena of the living world, including the generation of function and signification in living systems, from the ribosome to the ecosystem and from the beginnings of life to its ultimate meanings.

Furthermore, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. Broader definitions of life sometimes include viruses (which are acellular and do not metabolise) and theoretical non-carbon-based life or other alternative biology. Human-made analogs of life (alife) may also be considered to be life.

The entire Earth contains about 75 billion tons of biomass (life), which lives within various environments within the biosphere.




Defining the concept of life


A conventional definition

While there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life exhibits the following phenomena:

Organization - Living things are composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.
Metabolism - Metabolism produces energy by converting nonliving material into cellular components (synthesis) and decomposing organic matter (catalysis). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.
Growth - Growth results from a higher rate of synthesis than catalysis. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. The particular species begins to multiply and expand as the evolution continues to flourish.
Adaptation - Adaptation is the accommodation of a living organism to its environment. It is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present.
Response to stimuli - A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals. A response is often expressed by motion: the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun or an animal chasing its prey.
Reproduction - The division of one cell to form two new cells is reproduction. Usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual (either asexually, from a single parent organism, or sexually, from at least two differing parent organisms), although strictly speaking it also describes the production of new cells in the process of growth

Exceptions to the conventional definition


It is important to note that life is a definition that applies primarily at the level of species, so even though many individuals of any given species do not reproduce, possibly because they belong to specialized Sterile castes (such as ant workers), these are still considered forms of life. One could say that the property of life is inherited; hence, sterile hybrid species such as the mule are considered life although not themselves capable of reproduction. It is also worth noting that non-reproducing individuals may still help the spread of their genes through such mechanisms as kin selection.

For similar reasons, viruses and aberrant prion proteins are often considered replicators rather than forms of life, a distinction warranted because they cannot reproduce without very specialized substrates such as host cells or proteins, respectively. However, most forms of life rely on foods produced by other species, or at least the specific chemistry of Earth's environment.

Some individuals contest such definitions of life on philosophical grounds, and offer the following as examples of life: viruses which reproduce; flames which "grow"; certain computer software programs which are programmed to mutate and evolve; future software programs which may evince (even high-order) behavior; machines which can move; and some forms of proto-life consisting of metabolizing cells without the ability to reproduce.

Still, most scientists would not call such phenomena expressive of life. Generally all six characteristics are required for a population to be considered a life form.


Descent with modification

A useful characteristic upon which to base a definition of life is that of descent with modification: the ability of a life form to produce offspring that are like its parent or parents, but with the possibility of some variation due to chance. Descent with modification is sufficient by itself to allow evolution, assuming that the variations in the offspring allow for differential survival. The study of this form of heritability is called genetics. In all known life forms (assuming prions are not counted as such), the genetic material is primarily DNA or the related molecule, RNA.

Unlike other definitions, this definition of life includes viruses, as they are replicators with a genotype and phenotype, making them capable of natural selection and evolution. The definition may also include other replicating elements, including plasmids, which are otherwise considered part of a larger organism.

Taken to the extreme, a characteristic conveyed by a single gene of an organism may be considered to have its own life, as it has descent with modification,—an idea explored by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene. The usefulness of this definition becomes less clear when the link between genotype and phenotype is more abstract, such as for individual base pairs or satellite DNA.

Also difficult for this definition is organisms which cannot reproduce directly, such as worker bees—which may also continue their gene-line by helping to produce siblings, and sterilised organisms, such as spayed or neutered pets, which are no longer capable of descent.

More abstract concepts may also be considered alive by this definition, including memes and the artificial life of computer software, such as self-modifying computer viruses and programs created through genetic programming.


Other definitions

The systemic definition is that living things are self-organizing and autopoietic (self-producing). These objects are not to be confused with dissipative structures (e.g. fire).

Variations of this definition include Stuart Kauffman's definition of life as an autonomous agent or a multi-agent system capable of reproducing itself or themselves, and of completing at least one thermodynamic work cycle.

Another definition is : "Living things are systems that tend to respond to changes in their environment, and inside themselves, in such a way as to promote their own continuation."

Yet another definition: "Life is a self-organizing, cannibalistic system consisting of a population of replicators that are capable of mutation, around most of which homeostatic, metabolizing organisms evolve." This definition does not include flames, but does include worker ants, virii and mules. Without 'most of', it does not include virii.

Self reproduction and energy consumption is only one means for a system to promote its own continuation. This explains why bees can be alive and yet commit suicide in defending their hive. In this case the whole colony works as such a living system



Origin of life
There is no truly "standard" model for the origin of life, but most currently accepted scientific models build in one way or another on the following discoveries, which are listed roughly in order of postulated emergence:

Plausible pre-biotic conditions result in the creation of the basic small molecules of life. This was demonstrated in the Miller-Urey experiment.
Phospholipids spontaneously form lipid bilayers, the basic structure of a cell membrane.
Procedures for producing random RNA molecules can produce ribozymes, which are able to produce more of themselves under very specific conditions.
There are many different hypotheses regarding the path that might have been taken from simple organic molecules to protocells and metabolism. Many models fall into the "genes-first" category or the "metabolism-first" category, but a recent trend is the emergence of hybrid models that do not fit into either of these categories.


The possibility of extraterrestrial life

Earth is the only planet in the universe known to harbor life. The Drake equation has been used to estimate the probability of life elsewhere, but scientists disagree on many of the values of variables in this equation. Depending on those values, the equation may either suggest that life arises frequently or infrequently.
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Answer 2

80% of humanity, the religious folks, don't need to ask 'what's it all about?', the church tells them....the supernatural explanation. But the rest of us can't swallow religious dogma, because there's no evidence. Nobody can prove that there life after death, that people are tortured or rewarded after life or that there's invisible spirits running around, or even that there's a pre-ordained destiny for each and every one of us.

While it might be nice to think we'll see our dead relatives or friends, without proof, it's alot of fanciful thinking.

I've come to two conclusions recently:

1. Life has no meaning
2. Life has a million meanings.

First, there's a certainty that death and annihilation awaits not only you, but the Earth in general. It's an astonomical certainty that our sun will supernova and leave the earth a burnt crisp, not to mention all the other extinction level events around the corner.

Second, the million things that give us meaning are the pleasurable experiences we can conjure up during the short period we are here on the earth, in the form of the relationships we have with our kids and other people, and the 'housekeeping' types of purposes.

What i mean by that are the curing disease, ending hunger, improving literacy, reducing crime, preventing war, helping others and other 'feel good' pursuits.

Answer 3

That is a very complex question and one philosophers all over the world have been trying to solve for centuries. I may not be a great thinker; and this is not a subject I dwell on; but...to me life is about learning lessons and applying the fundamentals of each lesson to our daily lives. Some of us learn quickly, some of us too late..When it comes down to it, by the time we figure out the meaning of life, we are too old to enjoy it..So, get out there and enjoy your life!!

Answer 4

Hey Kimberly. Don't worry, you'll find out. Nobody was born knowing. Some of it you have to study for. The rest comes a minute at a time. Depending how you handle it, joy, wonder, sadness, tears, laughter, learning, experience, choices. Not necessarily in that order.

Answer 5

In the Bible (don't worry I'm not going there) every prophet or major character had their own name for god. They each had a different relationship based on how they perceived his interactions in their lives.

In my life, I believe he is the "Great Practical Joker" Once in college, I woke up to my friends alarm and he woke up to mine, but we lived 10 minutes away from each other. He was late for class that day.

What is life all about? Entertaining the supreme Deity.

Answer 6

The only person that can answer that question is you because life has a different meaning to everyone. You have your path choose it and let it guide you to your answers

Answer 7

Growth. Knowledge. Experiences, good and bad. Learning these lessons and then projecting your positiveness back towards humanity causing a chain reaction. Therefore creating your own world to live in, the way that you want it.

Answer 8

Loving, caring, being healthy, family, good friends, good food, being able to live comfortable & enjoying life to the fullest. That's it in a nutshell. Have a nice life.

Answer 9

Life is all about getting through it without screwing up too much along the way... Learn from your mistakes, they are the best teacher, but the harshest... If you can learn from somebody elses mistakes it is much better and less painful to yourself.

Answer 10

You shoulda asked this in the religion topics.Because those christian psychos seem to know the answer to all of life's unexplainable Questions.

Answer 11

any life not spent in the service of others is a life not worth living.

-Albert Schweitzer