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Reflections upon a new definition of life

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Abstract

What is life? Multiple definitions have been proposed to answer this question, but unfortunately, none of them has reached the consensus of the scientific community. Here, the strategy used to define what life is was based on first establishing which characteristics are common to all living systems (organic nature, entropy-producing system, self-organizing, reworkable pre-program, capacity to interact and adapt, reproduction and evolution) and from them constructing the definition taking into account that reproduction and evolution are not essential for life. On this basis, life is defined as an interactive process occurring in entropy-producing, adaptive, and informative (organic) systems. An unforeseen consequence of the inseparable duality between the system (living being) and the process (life) is the interchangeability of the elements of the definition to obtain other equally valid alternatives. In addition, in the light of this definition, cases of temporarily lifeless living systems (viruses, dormant seeds, and ultracold cells) are analyzed, as well as the status of artificial life entities and the hypothetical nature of extraterrestrial life. All living systems are perishable because the passage of time leads to increasing entropy. Life must create order by continuously producing disorder and exporting it to the environment and so we move and stay in the phase transition between order and chaos, far from equilibrium, thanks to the input of energy from the outside. However, the passage of time eventually leads us to an end in which life disappears and entropy increases.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Andrew J.E. Seely for his comments during the revision process, which have been a source of inspiration and insight. I also thank Dr. Kathryn Garner and Dr. Elena Tasinato for their critical reading of the manuscript; their comments helped me greatly to improve it. I would also like to thank Dr. González Caamaño (USC) and Dr. P. Bella (UAM) for their helpful discussions on the nature of life. This work is dedicated to my dear mother Cristina and my beloved granddaughter Daniela because they both represent the end and the beginning of life.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bldg. CIBUS–Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

    Jaime Gómez-Márquez

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Correspondence to Jaime Gómez-Márquez.

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Gómez-Márquez, J. Reflections upon a new definition of life. Sci Nat 110, 53 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-023-01882-5

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