What is life, and how is it defined? While there have been tremendous advances in both technological possibilities and knowledge concerning our understanding of life, the actual working definition of life has not changed substantially for many years. What has changed is where the boundaries lie, and how far each advance in the quest to unravel the ultimate question of life pushes those boundaries.
Is all life carbon-based and self-replicating? If so, where does that leave mules, or the elderly? How do the modern advances in cloning, and test-tube life, as well as "living" computers, enter into the equation? What occurs between apparently "nonliving" compounds, the so-called building blocks of life, that gave rise to the spark of life on this planet?
A fascinating puzzle and perhaps one of the oldest questions in science - what exactly is life?
Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for
HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph,
Bookseller, and New Statesman.
A Synopsis of the Debate,
by moderator M. Ran