Criteria for life
1) Living things need energy
2) Living things grow and develop
3) Living things respond to their surroundings
4) Living things reproduce
Hypothetically lets take a 3rd grade science experiement, Growing Crystals
Growing Crystals respond to Criteria 2 and 3 (alter the liquid medium and you can increase or decrease the rate of growth), possibly 1 (I don't know enough about what happens at the atomic level to say that energy is or isn't involved)
That potentially leaves only 4 out of the loop.
Is it conievable That a crystal saturates to the point where it begins to release its base element back into the medium, therefore allowing the creation newer crystals?
All of this is off the top of my head, and Incredibly simplistic. I am merely saying that Life as we know it here on earth may not be life elsewhere.
Suppose ExtraTerran life is not made of amino acids, or carbon based. Would we recognize it as life?
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