What is Life?

Does that mean you don't know that the different sections in magazines and journals serve different functions and purposes?Okay.Well here is some info for you then.The magazines and journals often get divided into different sections. Often one section is devoted to reporting and reviewing papers and developments, another is set aside to allow people to ask the editors questions or make editorial comments, and as in this case, often there is a section for essays.As you claim to know, an essay is "... a short piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view.", in other words, the authors pet position.Are you still with me?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

And so do you understand what I posted?Was it an essay?Are essays personal opinions?Was it published in an essay section?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Interesting. This source says red is 700-635nm and in graphic designs red is #FF0000 or 0,100,100 or 255,0,0.Some definitions would not call the broad range that you specify red at all, but rather only one smal band from that spectrum.The point is that definitions are only accurate within a set of parameters and when used by two parties using a common set of measurements.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

So, like everyone else that has posted in this thread and every definition that has been linked to in this thread, AlphaOmegakid has HIS own pet definition.Edited by jar, : fix subtitle

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

It is also simply related to one species in one segment of society.There are seeds stored in gene banks all over the world as well as the spare copies stored at Svalbard. For decades those seeds exhibit none of the signs we associate with "being alive".

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

But in the case of seeds the test is after the fact.We plant seeds; if they grow then we can say, "Yup, it was alive." If it does not grow we can say "Yup, it was not alive."But looking at seeds they best we can do is say "It's likely that x% will germinate.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Huh?What makes you think some are less evolved?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

LOLWhy would they?If they are successful, live long enough to reproduce, why would they evolve? What is the filter that would drive change?Do you really think evolution means directionality or something becoming more complex?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Sorry but it seems you really have no idea what Evolution is. There is absolutely nothing in that post that is correct or anything more than a typical creationist misrepresentation.First, evolution is simply change over time.Second, it is NOT directed.Third there is no directionality.Fourth, what we see is simply what has succeeded.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

No.You are confusing the fact of Evolution which is simply change over time, with the Theory of Evolution that explains how it happens.Nor is there any evidence that anything has remained the same over time.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

LOLBut those single cell critters are NOT the same single cell critters from billions of years ago.Remember there are two factors, change and the filter. If something passes through the filter it continues.It really is that simple.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

How? Why is it opinion? Is there any evidence of some directed force? No, it is observation. We see things becoming more complex and less complex. No directionality. Nonsense. We can look and see that there is no directionality, things both living and non-living become more complex and less complex. There is no directionality.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

I'm sorry but again that is simply nonsense. I'm not even sure how you are proposing measuring complexity.But please stop and think.If things become more and also become less complex, then there is not a uniform directionality.Granted, the very first life was almost certainly very simple. At that point in time, there was only one direction possible, to become less complex would mean becoming non-living.Once though multicelled individuals existed, then there was the possibility of bi-directionality; and it has been that way ever since.Nor does the existence of single celled organisms have any bearing on the issue. For example, just in diatoms there are over 100,000 different species extant. And the diatoms that are extant are different than the diatoms that are extinct. They evolved while still remaining single celled critters.BUT WAIT ... there is more ...looking still at diatoms we also find species that are colonial; not yet multicelled organisms but on that pathway. They might well believe that, but yet again that is simply another incorrect position, totally refuted by the evidence available.And you still have not provided your model for measuring complexity or contributed anything towards the topic of the thread which is "What is Life?"

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Ah, priori: as in "not supported by fact" and "without observed facts" and in "without supporting evidence".Gottcha. That makes sense.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Thanks for adding those definitions Buz.

quote:

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presupposed by experience
2a : being without examination or analysis : presumptive b : formed or conceived beforehand

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Note: "being without examination or analysis; presumptive; formed or conceived beforehand."None of the definitions are related to what science does.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!