> Mario,
>
> Epistemology is imprtant in the study of life because life is
> creative, it always crosses the boundary of what it "knows".
> Each new species is an invention of a new way of self-reproduction.
>
> I agree that it is possible to view the whole biosphere as a
> self-reproducing system. But I would argue that it is also
> possible to define self-reproduction at lower levels of the
> hierarchy. Self-reproduction is always CONDITIONAL, i.e.,
> it occurs if certain conditions are met. But these conditions
> are never eternal, they change via cosmological and
> biological evolution. But in a limited lime-scale, there is
> self-reproduction at various levels: molecules, cells, organisms,
> and species; not just at the biosphere level, as you claim.
>
> -Alexei
Alexei,Actually my claim is that only cells do duplicate autonomously.
Because it is generally agreed that all extant organisms and cells are
the descendants of a single cell, my claim is that only this single cell
started duplicating autonomously and still does, whereof the idea that
all living creatures actually belong to one single organism, which has
invaded almost every possible corner of Earth (I sometimes tend to see
Life as an ineradicable cancer). Because of the possibility of
exponential growth - itself a consequence of autonomous duplication -
this organism changes (pollutes) its environment continuously and only
those parts of the organism which can adapt remain duplicating. Another
claim follows: trying to understand what life is cannot be done by
studying a single organism (like an amoeba or a horse).
I don't see how molecules, species or the biosphere can be
self-replicating.
-- Mario Vaneechoutte Department Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology & Immunology University Hospital De Pintelaan 185 9000 GENT Belgium Phone: +32 9 240 36 92 Fax: +32 9 240 36 59