At 02:58 AM Monday 5/29/2006, Charlie Bell wrote:
On 29/05/2006, at 3:26 AM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
So:
(1) virus ( ) alive ( ) not alive.
(2) BSE prion ( ) alive ( ) not alive.
(Choose one and only one answer to each question.)
You're making a classic error, of forcing things into pigeonholes.
Only to make a point.
[snip]
Unlike evolution, defining life is *not* a settled question. The list
I gave of properties of life is just a variant of one of the systems
- there are others. If even biologists can't agree on this, I see
little hope in there ever being a clear-cut definition of life.
And that was pretty much the point.
--Ronn! :)
"Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country
and two words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance... UNDER
GOD. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that
would be eliminated from schools too?"
-- Red Skelton
(Someone asked me to change my .sig quote back, so I did.)
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