The spark of life

[D.B. Cooper]

Have we discovered what that "spark" of life is yet? Say I constructed a human body, organs and all. But I wouldn't be able to make it "alive". What makes us "alive" and gives us conscious thought?

[RaZor HeaD]

Note: True story.

I was in Las Vegas years ago and there used to be a gas station on the strip with a sign out front that read "The mysteries of the universe answered here."
And so I queried the man pumping my gas, "Why do we have conscious thought?" and he replied, "Conscious thought is simply a by-product that naturally results from the evolution of carbon based life-forms." Not a bad answer, I thought. It's certainly an incomplete and general answer but it's the best one I've heard so far.

Of course, at that point one had to wonder what's more remarkable; a gas station attendant with such an intellectual mind-set, or the fact that you could still find a place that would pump gas for you.

[spartan117]

There are different theories most of which I am unaware of for the most part. I only recall some of the theories shown on a documentary I once seen. One of which was this experiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_experiment

I think you are approaching this the fundamentally wrong way due to a possible philosophical view on humans in particular.

[MrMofo]

Lightning, duh.