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[jester]

Fire eats, excretes and breeds, why isnt it classed as alive?

Ohhh, and could god cook a doughnut soo big he couldnt eat the whole thing in one sitting?

[Loud Whispers]

Fire eats, excretes and breeds, why isnt it classed as alive?

Fire is an exothermic reaction, nothing more

[DrPoo]

Fire eats, excretes and breeds, why isnt it classed as alive?

Fire is an exothermic reaction, nothing more

Arent we exothermic reactions too then, and nothing more?

[Criptfeind]

... What.

Do you know what a exothermic reaction is?

[DrPoo]

... What.

Do you know what a exothermic reaction is?

Sounds like a thermic reaction.. outside of a body.
Otherwise, nope Imma wiki it.

[Skyrunner]

Fire eats, excretes and breeds, why isnt it classed as alive?

Ohhh, and could god cook a doughnut soo big he couldnt eat the whole thing in one sitting?

I believe there are five conditions for life as we know it.

(i) It is able to move
(ii) It is able to react to outside stimuli
(iii) It is able to reproduce
(iv) It has DNA
(v) It has cells

Fire fails IV and V.

Meh, got a better list.

[DrPoo]

And then again, we can take anything and deconstruct it.
By taking our body, we could really simplify it and just say reverse photosynthesis, i.e Metabolism.
But the difference from other animals, not counting whales, we are the only one capable of thinking beyond basic instinct.

What makes us do that? Elephants have larger brains than us, and yet dosent fly around in space ships.. (yet)

This is why i believe in that we got a soul.

[Criptfeind]

Whhhhhhhhat?

Other Animals can think past basic instinct. Brain size is not responsible for intelligence. We are only smart because we evolved that way and we get a lot of shit for it as well. We are only different from other species in the fact that we got lucky and drew the straw that goes further then anything else.

[Skyrunner]

@DrPoo

Uhh, I didn't understand your post well.

Criptfeind is basically right, though. Luck.

Also, saying a human (or a fish, or a bacteria for that matter) is basically reverse photosynthesis is ... wrong. You oversimplified it. First of all, metabolism is not reverse photosythesis. Metabolism evolved first, iirc. Second, there is much more to us than metabolism. Metabolism doesn't get us a hunk of bone. Nor does it account for the fascinating process of DNA reading, duplicating and mitosis/meiosis. Yes, it does power it. Nope, it isn't it.

[Truean]

Can ants survive on a diet of pure sugar? If so how do they get nutrients, or do they not need any somehow?

[chaoticag]

They can't, all creatures need nutrients, it's just that sugar is a great source of energy which can be just as important as nutrients in some cases. Like any other creature with DNA, they need 20 proteins, and cholesterol, as well as vitamins.

[sluissa]

My first instinct was to suggest that worker ants, at least, are so short lived that they might have all of the non-energy nutrients that they need from birth. However, further research suggests a possible life span of months to years for worker ants and up to 30 years for queens.

So, I'd have to go with a probable no. They could probably survive a while on nothing but sugar but probably succumb to malnutrition at some point well before they would on a more balanced diet. It also reminds me of an experiment we did in school once. If you gave ants the choice between sugar, and peanut butter, they'd pretty much always go for the peanut butter first evidence that they probably need fats and proteins.

[jester]

There have been humans who have survived on sugar, water, salt and vitamin pills for extended (12 months or so) periods of time, just an interesting thing I though id add

[Loud Whispers]

Fire eats, excretes and breeds, why isnt it classed as alive?

Fire is an exothermic reaction, nothing more

Arent we exothermic reactions too then, and nothing more?

Nah, we're a series of proteins and electrical impulses. Or whatever


Today I learned there's a part of our brain specifically programmed to illicit a response to alien objects, specifically spider shaped things.

Huh.

[Bauglir]

Nah, we're a series of proteins and electrical impulses. Or whatever

Yes, exactly. You aren't proteins and electrical impulses, you're the series. Reductionism is silly.