LogFAQs > #979618717

Buddyblade posted...

I mean, it wouldn't need the same things as us (like oxygen, eating, a heartbeat, etc.) I'm not entirely sure one would fully understand what it means to be "alive" unless it had the exact same requirements as us.

Something doesn't have to have the same requirements as humans to be alive. The most commonly accepted criteria for life are the following:

• Characterized by order and structure (e.g. cells-->tissues-->organs)
• Ability to respond to the environment
• Ability to grow and change
• Ability to reproduce
• Ability to maintain a constant state (homeostasis)
• Requirement to consume energy
• Produces waste

Right now, the only thing really separating machines from life under those criteria are the growth and reproduction lines. Machines are ordered, they can respond to the environment, they can self-regulate to maintain suitable operating conditions (your computer turning up its fan under load to reduce its temperature being a clear example), they consume energy, and they can produce waste products (any exhaust system, for example). With the ability to modify themselves over time and self-replicate (both of which are theoretically possible), there isn't actually much room to say that such a machine isn't alive.