[coloradan]

The line between life and nonlife is arbitrary unless you know the history of the object in question. We do not know the history of viruses.

For that matter, we don't know the history of humans either. I don't think a definition of "life" is useful that requires knowledge of infinite ancestry. A rock isn't alive, a person is, and I don't have to know where they came from (back to antiquity) to be able to make this determination.

[js1138]

I don't think a definition of "life" is useful that requires knowledge of infinite ancestry. A rock isn't alive, a person is, and I don't have to know where they came from (back to antiquity) to be able to make this determination.

Rocks don't replicate or evolve. Keep your mind focused on the problem at hand. The history of viruses is quite germane to the question of whether we should call them living. Anyway, they are what they are, regardless of what we call them.