Defining “Life”

Author(s): David Lynn Abel

At what point does a theoretical protocell/protobiont come to life [1-13]? A cell becomes alive by definition when it is observed to be actively Processing Efficacious Executable Choice-Commanded Causation and Control (PEECCCC) [14-22] . No inanimate entity has ever been observed to manifest this trait/capability. Every universally agreed-upon free-living cell without exception manifests this trait/capability. Viruses and viroids correspond best to non-living thumb drives. Prions are nothing more than misfolded proteins. Suspended animation is a very special case of discontinued active ongoing living process. This means that entities in suspended animation have the potential to come to life, but are not currently living. The dichotomy between life and non-life is not a gray-scale transition. This definition provides a digital, crystal-clear, yes-or-no absolute. A cell is either actively exercising this unique functional process, or it is not. PEECCCC is a fully testable and falsifiable working definition of “life.” It is all-encompassing of the entire array of living organisms, whether single-celled; multi-celled; sterile/nonreproducing (e.g., the “mule problem”); and currently evolving or not evolving. PEECCCC is applicable to Monera, Protista and on up to the remaining three Kingdoms of life. Interestingly enough, this definition is also fully applicable to NASA and astro/exobiology pursuits. “Biosignatures” include the functional processing devices designed and engineered by subcellular life to process its own undeniable cybernetic programming. PEECCCC is alone what produces life’s formal computational halting and its programming of extraordinary degrees of “end user freedom.”