PatrickHenry: That's not entirely true. Some primitive species are known as "composite organisms," and they are made of parts that function quite well when separated. Example: THE BIOLOGY OF LICHENS.
The Shannon-Weaver definition would have covered all the bizarre life cycles including the lichens, spores, pollen, viruses, bacteria and even the spooky Pfiesteria piscicida - all of which continue to communicate throughout their life cycles. Once the communication is lost, the biological life ceases.
But alas, now we have an erased blackboard with the words "Quantization of Continuum fallacy" writ large. Moreover, many distinctions are now fallacious quantizations of the continuum. In the continuum, there is no clear distinction between lichens and geodes, reptiles and lizards, life and non-life - instead, it is flexing boundaries and fuzziness.