The proteins and genes are complex - not because of the bio/chemistry - but because of (a) the semiosis - the language itself and the encoding/decoding of it (b) the autonomy of the information/semiosis by organism and species, (c) the functions integrated within the whole organism towards the singular purpose, the will to live and (d) the permeation of both the information and the will to live in the biosphere and/or universe!
b_sharp replied: Alamo-Girl, did you forget to mention the energy crystals and copper bracelets?
you replied: So you say, but the post to which b_sharp was replying read like a completely nutty piece of new-age mysticism. Perhaps that wasn't your intention but it wasn't just b_s who noticed it.
I've not come across this considered-to-be-mysterious "will to live" thing before, and now it has appeared at least twice in one thread. Resources are limited, organisms which struggle for existence will tend to displace those that don't struggle. All modern living things are descended from a line of millions of successful reproducers in a world where there will never be enough resources for most organisms to manage that. Call it the evolutionary tautology if you will (survival of the fittest, where the fittest are those who survive). Why is that presented as some kind of metaphysical mystery?
Of course, all of the above threads are populated with authoritative source articles, excerpts and links - rigorous debates and arguments such as yours, counter-arguments, etc.
For Lurkers interested in broaching the subject of the will to live - here are some articles to introduce the concepts of semiosis, autonomy, complexity and information theory:
Tom Schneider: Theory of Molecular Machines
Chris Adami: Information Theory and Molecular Biology
NECSI: Complex Systems (two basic types of complexity)
Complexity is ...[the abstract notion of complexity has been captured in many different ways. Most, if not all of these, are related to each other and they fall into two classes of definitions]:
2) ...the (minimal) amount of time it takes to create the system.
Wikipedia: Cellular Automata (aka Self-Organizing Complexity)
Wikipedia: Irreducible Complexity
Principia Cybernetica: Metatransition (a kind of punctuated equilibrium)
Here are some hypotheticals for you that I am sure you will intellectually enjoy:
Would you consider a digital computer that could pass the Turing Test to be alive?
What if it also had the physical capability to make more copies of itself? (by mining minerals, refining them etc etc...) ie Would a Von Neumann machine that could also pass the Turing Test be alive in your opinion?
For each of these questions if not, why not? If so then why?
Would it be moral to turn such a machine off once it was running? Would you be able to make yourself do so if the machine used its output device to beg you to leave it running?
What if the machine looked just like a human and was largely constructed from organic parts, with just a digital "brain"?
Depending on your answers to these questions, where does that leave your "life force"?