>>> Nick Douglas on "Existence Exists" 
 ND> I messed up writing the probability one, but as for life and
 ND> existence, won't you define them? What makes something alive? Energy?
 ND> Flashlights have it. The ability to be random? Computers achieve true
 ND> randominity (sp?). Now, define life in such a way that by your
 ND> descriptions, all known living things are verified as life, and all
 ND> non-living or dead things are excluded. 
Medical determination of death is not easy.  Life and death have many 
surprises on their border.  Is brain death death?  Is a decaying body dead?  
There are just some notions that defy definition and this is one.  Another is 
consciousness which is even more defiant of conscious cognition.
Biological qualities that determine a life form include metabolism, 
reproduction, survival reactivity.  But note that this is not indicating a 
definition of what's -alive- but giving indications of what is life.  After 
all not every live person reproduces.
In mathematics we are resigned to accept that some things are not defined, 
that they are basic.  Euclid never defined point and line but he described 
their qualities quite well and proceeded to define other notions based upon 
these basic, undefined notions.  There are two aspects to this approach.  One 
is intuitive wherein a description is attempted, such as a point is like an 
infinitesimal dot.  With enuf description, examples and discussion, a sense 
of the notion is developed.  The other is abstract.  The Euclidean axioms 
themselves are considered the definition of points and lines.  It's like an 
operational definition that describes not what it is but what it does.  'If 
it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it is a duck.'
As for defining life, I'm alive.  Thus I know what being alive is like.  I'm 
content with this perceptive definition.  As for existence, if the word has 
importance to you, you define it.  I give no definition as I consider it an  
obtuse rumination.
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