The Problem With Defining Life
Saturday, February 4, 2012 - 20:40
in Mathematics & Economics
The problem, in a word, is language.Carl Zimmer’s recent article Can Life Be Defined in Three Words raised just that issue.He referred to the many attempts that have been made by scientists to define what life is, and in doing so, unwittingly exposed some of the main problems in reaching a definition of life.He described Radu Popa’s study in which Popa went to the trouble of counting the definitions of life, and gave some of the definitions. For example, “Some scientists define life as something capable of metabolism.” Can you see the problem with that approach? read more