"TomHendricks474"  wrote in message
news:ceqv4r$2r56$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
> <<
> Absolutely! The problem though is there is just no
> appropriate
> _general_ word I can find to replace "life" for something
> which acts like life but does not replicate...or even,
just
> reproduce in any way. Perhaps, "metabolic system/entity",
> but that doesn't quite do it for me...perhaps just
> "operating system?" :) It seems though that there is no
> recourse but to carefully separate the concept of "life"
> from that of "living organism," the latter being something
> that may grow and metabolize in the usual sense, but not
> necessarily replicate in the usual sense (i.e., "divide.")
> We might say then:
>
> Stardate 2.1 10^4: Capt. Kirk landed on planet X and found
> the first Slimelord--the only known living organism where
a
> single individual entity covered the entire planet. It's
> prodigeous growth allowed it to grow to enormass mass and
> survive virtually forever as parts of its body die off
(this
> remarkable metabolism and resultant growth rate allows it
to
> totally dominate all the other life on the planet which
does
> reproduce sexually.) Kirk was fortunate to be able to
escape
> before he and his ship was absorbed by the Slimelord as
> food.                                    ...tonyC
>  >>
>
>
> TH
> Along these lines, it might be interesting to note
> an example that James Lovelock uses to illustrate
> his Gaia theory. Just like a tree depends on a small
> layer  on the outside for its existence, so
> does planet earth depend on a small  layer of
> life and living things on its outer edge, for its
existence.
>
> Sounds a little like your Slimelord.

Yes, it does! Lovelock's Gaia thy has always seemed to me a
brilliant idea which has not yet reached its full potential.
Even if its physical significance is not fully clear yet,
its utility in teaching and drawing analogies in many, even
unrelated, fields never ceases to amaze me. It is a deep
concept, somewhat like those in game thy, another concept
that in the last 50 years has finally begun to be applied to
revealing quantitative solutions to a wide variety of
questions.       ...tonyC
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