I lived in Nashville before coming to Richmond in 1973. I liked Tennessee a lot. I am disgusted with it now. Strangely, the definition of "life" has been central in my studies for some time. That is why the current attempt by legislators to over ride the job of science is so digusting. What Is Life?
is a 1944 non-fiction science book written for the lay reader by physicist Erwin Schrödinger. The book was based on a course of public lectures delivered by Schrödinger in February 1943, under the auspices of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. The lectures attracted an audience of about 400, who were warned "that the subject-matter was a difficult one and that the lectures could not be termed popular, even though the physicist’s most dreaded weapon, mathematical deduction, would hardly be utilized." Schrödinger's lecture focused on one important question: "how can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?".
The best answer I know to that question came from Robert Rosen. Read on below for I think I can give you some eye openers.
Robert Rosen devoted much of his life to dealing with these questions. Two of his most important books, Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life (Complexity in Ecological Systems) and Review of: "Essays on Life Itself".
Robert Rosen died in December of 1998 after a long bout with diabetes and its complications. He left a significant quantity of unpublished notes and had this book in the publication process. His last "writings" were hand done on paper with great effort due to extensive peripheral neuropathy. It was a mixed blessing to be among the first to read his last works both this manuscript and the next, unfinished one. I am saddened by our loss even as I feel his presence through his writings.
Bob was an eloquent speaker and reading this set of essays is almost as good as hearing him in person. The essays were written to be published in a number of places, usually as invited talks, yet they may as well have been set down to be a book from the start. There is a thread of continuity that makes this the case. In addition, even though I had read many of the essays as they appeared earlier, their juxtaposition in this volume proves that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts"!
Rosen was scheduled to speak at the 1999 43rd Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). His death in 1998 led the group to ask me to speak in his place and I accepted. Here is my talk: (Later published in
Systems Research and Behavioral Science vol 17 pp 419-432 (2000))
ROBERT ROSEN: THE WELL POSED QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER-WHY ARE ORGANISMS DIFFERENT FROM MACHINES? The issue is that to try to define life is a futile endeavor. Any arbitrary definition like that of any legislative body is doomed to be a simple matter of political bias. The words "life", "living", alive" etc defy clear definitions. To try to do so is what scientists call trying to answer an ill posed question.
Rosen's way to solve the problem was brilliant. He constructed a paradigm in which models of things "out there" had to fall into one of two categories: Organism or machine. There was no overlap. Nothing could be both.
What does this do for us with repect to the efforts of religious despots to define life? It makes the fallacy of their aribtrary choice crystal clear. Any attribute that allows the ferilized egg to be called living is also there is any other organism including the sperm and egg. Their ruling is useless other than a tool of oppression.
Finally foir more good biology see What Is Life? by Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan and Niles Eldredge Even thought they got caugt in he trap of posing the question poorly they give plenty of support to what I just said.