Chemicals are not "alive" - neither are amino acids. Compare the failure of Urey/Miller to bootstrap life by simulating lightning strikes v. Wimmer's success to bootstrap the polio virus by starting with the message, e.g. RNA data off the internet.
I stand by my statement that every "thing" in space/time, including the lowly amoeba must pay the thermodynamic tab. And it does indeed pay that tab when it successfully communicates.
They live until they are killed, or until the environment becomes unsupportive. But every living amoeba has escaped this fate so far.