I think it's just a definition, and if scientists would choose a definition, then whatever definition they chose would be just fine. Life could mean "anything that reproduces," and virii would be alive. Life could mean "anything that can reproduce without help from other life forms," and they wouldn't be alive.
A lawyer would eat me alive for that one, since no human can reproduce without help from another life form (another human), and you can't survive to reproduce without help from bacteria. But if we could ban all lawyers and lawyer thinking, so that I don't have to rewrite the above definition in good, legal terms, I think you can understand what I'm saying.
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