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Thank you so much for your reply!

She labels the difference "information."

betty boop is not alone; I label the difference information also. And significantly, so do many scientists.

If life is merely an emergent property of the constituent components (whatever that means, and I'm not at all certain what that may be) then it's arguably not a "message" slipped in by some supernatural agency. That's my only point.

I'd like to reword your statement somewhat:

If such information is merely an emergent property of the constituent components then it's arguably not a "message" slipped in by some supernatural agency.

Conversely, if the information is not an emergent property of the consituent components then it must have originated externally. The external source may be physical such as the sun or space aliens - or God.

I of course would point to God as the external source!

There is probably another point that needs to be evidenced by science - namely, that such information is passed on by reproduction. I suspect most investigators assume this, but it ought to be subjected to testing, and I have seen no such evidence.

If such information [that makes a living cell different from a dead one] is merely an emergent property of the constituent components then it's arguably¹ not a "message" slipped in by some supernatural agency.

Conversely, if the information is not an emergent property of the consituent components then it must have originated externally. The external source may be physical such as the sun or space aliens - or God.

I agree with your restatement. It presents the issue quite well. I'm still concerned that there is the potential for confusion about the meaning of "information" in this context, but at this stage we're both on the same page.

Note 1: Now that I think about it, because you present the alternative in your restatement, we could remove the word "arguably" from the first sentence.

There is probably another point that needs to be evidenced by science - namely, that such information is passed on by reproduction. I suspect most investigators assume this, but it ought to be subjected to testing, and I have seen no such evidence.

Isn't this idea of heritability somehow related to Lamarckianism? If so, it's already been tried and found wanting. But then, maybe there's a new way to take a go at the general idea???