[Junior]

Define "living." No, I'm not trying to be a smart-ass. The definition of "living" can get awfully fuzzy, as many non-living things exhibit traits of the living -- they consume, grow and reproduce, for example.

[DittoJed2]

I'm really thinking personal verses impersonal. Genes contain personal information, and theorhetically, sometime a scientist could use genetics to create some sort of life. They use genetics in cloning, for example. But, they still have to have the basic data already present. Minerals, on the other hand are non-living. You aren't going to have scientists taking non-living minerals, mixing them all up in a test tube and popping out a baby or something. Even though they exist within species, and are indeed necessary for the survival of species, you have to basically have something that has the information already inherent within it to make it personal to make a person (or animal, etc.,). That's what I was hitting at.