[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.

[allmendream]

The definition of life I provided is also not limited to biological life on this earth and has nothing at all to do with what life looks like, but everything to do with the types of energetic reactions that are required for there to be life.

Extraterrestrial life, if there is any, would need to be organized and to consume energy to maintain and replicate that organization.

The organization part has something to do with what the life form will look like, but I didn't specify a particular type of organization (a fur bearing tetrapod) which would make it have anything at all with what life looks like.

The definition provided has everything to do with what reactions are necessary and sufficient for there to be life.