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dodexahedron t1_irng551 wrote

Reply to comment by KanadaKid19 in What lifeform has the shortest genetic sequence? by teafuck

Was this sarcasm? Because, if not, a puddle has things done to it. It can't do anything by itself except exist.

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KanadaKid19 t1_irniu9h wrote

I completely agree, however that wasn’t in the criteria I was rebutting. A puddle is absolutely not alive.

If you want something a little closer to actively consuming its environment, how about a crystal?

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Longjumping_Youth281 t1_irrnru6 wrote

I mean what about a prion? Doesn't that kind of do what viruses do except on a much simpler scale? In other words it forces the replication of itself due to how its chemicals are composed and arranged.

Viruses also kind of do the same thing due to the arrangement of the chemicals they force the reproduction of themselves, just on a much more complex scale.

That's how I think of viruses at least. I mean I'm coming from a non science background so you know I don't exactly know what I'm talking about here but to me they seem like just an arrangement of chemicals that Force the reproduction of themselves when they come into contact with certain cells.

It's definitely a weird gray area though and does not neatly fit into the constructs that we have created

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