[allmendream]

Any non Earth type life form would, as a necessity, need to be an organization of molecules that consumed energy to maintain and replicate its own molecular structure.

It is quite simply a requirement of physics that life must be organized, and that organization can only come about by consuming energy.

The problem with the Shannon postulate is that it doesn’t actually convey any useful information about what life is.

Dead things can convey MUCH information. Ever hear of an autopsy? Ever watch CSI?

[Alamo-Girl]

I must head out again so just a quickie reply.

Dead things can convey MUCH information. Ever hear of an autopsy? Ever watch CSI?

Information is the successful communication of the message, e.g. DNA - it is not the message itself.

The problem with the Shannon postulate is that it doesn’t actually convey any useful information about what life is.

I would say the opposite. It says what life is not just what it looks like.

Where there is successful communication, there is life.

And the Shannon definition is universal, it is mathematics, it is not limited to biological life on this earth.