Are we realy alive?

[WarDude]

No im not a poet, this is a scientific question
I am not a biology expert but cells are the only thing that can be considered "alive" as a living orgasm is just a collection of cells linking/working together in order to survive -> to give the DNA to your kids.
So if this is correct, are we alive or a collection of living things?

Another thing, what is consciousness? How can a brain give X a control (X is what has the control over our consciousness, that is what we are) and if it is the brain, how can he block options from itself such as growing another arm or stop supporting a cell as it got a potential of turning into cancer.
I am an atheist so telling me "Soul" will have no meaning for me.

[Armenum]

One cannot analyse the human body piece by piece, atom by atom. Our bodies have to be analysed in a holistic manner. Think of it like this. You have thousands of dominoes lined up that spell out some big word when knocked over. If you look at one of those dominoes, you will never know the message, heck if you look at 10 you won't even know that it's supposed to have any purpose. Only when you look at it in full action do you see the ultimate result and purpose. The human body is made up of very mechanical, and straight forward material but the amount of material (cells, neurons, atoms, etc.) and the interaction of this vast amount of material make a fluid and complex being which we observe with the naked eye. The message spelt out by the dominoes relies on the interaction of each and every dominoes with the next domino (domino effect) and in the same way is the human body.

So we are alive, because all these elements are able to work together, synergy. The numerous amounts of interactions and properties of these elements allow for dynamic life and its fluidity to exist.

[hellheaven1987]

Yes, but the problem is that each cell has its own pattern of movement and motivation, so should we say our own consciousness is just a collection of consciousness of trillions cells??

[Armenum]

Yes, but the problem is that each cell has its own pattern of movement and motivation, so should we say our own consciousness is just a collection of consciousness of trillions cells??

a very simple pattern, like a computer program. You combine billions and millions of these simple programs, and you you end up with a fluid structure. Like looking at a tiny spot on a painting, its colour is a dull green and that's all you see. But as you zoom out and out, you see a beautiful painting made up of a variety of vibrant colours.

[CarbEast]

No im not a poet, this is a scientific question
I am not a biology expert but cells are the only thing that can be considered "alive" as a living orgasm is just a collection of cells linking/working together in order to survive -> to give the DNA to your kids.
So if this is correct, are we alive or a collection of living things?

And cells consist of organelles, some of which actually have separate genetics and function much like independent living beings, so why cell is more alive that the whole body?

More importantly, you can't conclude anything meaningful about something being alive until you defined what "alive" means. Can you define it?

Another thing, what is consciousness? How can a brain give X a control (X is what has the control over our consciousness, that is what we are) and if it is the brain, how can he block options from itself such as growing another arm or stop supporting a cell as it got a potential of turning into cancer.

Because those functions aren't controlled from brain. Brain doesn't actually control every single cell. It's 'sphere of influence' is nervous system. Through nervous system brain can affect functioning of pretty much entire body, but it can't directly control each individual cell.

[Bucken]

Why do i become all sad when i read this. Its too much information.

[Elfdude]

No im not a poet, this is a scientific question
I am not a biology expert but cells are the only thing that can be considered "alive" as a living orgasm is just a collection of cells linking/working together in order to survive -> to give the DNA to your kids.
So if this is correct, are we alive or a collection of living things?

What we are is the entirety of the linked organisms working together. No human cells are designed to survive without the support of other human systems and typically die very quickly when cut off. Are we alive? Well the definition is ambiguous at best. The more science defines the definition the more we realize that the line between alive and not alive is very difficult to see indeed assuming it is even really there. When we 'die' our systems simply fail. Our cells go on to live and split and reproduce for some time until finally they end up cannibalizing each other accelerating the process of decay. So death can be said to be a total system failure. But defining life is far more difficult. You could say we're very complex machines who aren't alive at all and that wouldn't be technically wrong.

Another thing, what is consciousness? How can a brain give X a control (X is what has the control over our consciousness, that is what we are) and if it is the brain, how can he block options from itself such as growing another arm or stop supporting a cell as it got a potential of turning into cancer.

Uh, I'm not entirely clear on what the question is here. The brain can't command our body to grow another arm. The brain cannot trigger cells to return to stem cells and further it can't tell them to build something which they have no structural blueprint for. The brain cannot stop a cell from turning into cancer.

What the brain can do is a limited hijack of our usually automatic systems. If for example you try to convince yourself you've done a lot of work your heart rate will increase. If you try to convince yourself that your immune system is in tip top shape and that you're healthy your immune system will work even better than if you maintain either doubt or uncertainty. The brain can remove some internal obstacles and stream line the goals of the usually individualistic cells. For example if you practice enough you can control the metabolism in the cells of say your finger to a certain extent. Doing this you can increase the temperature of your finger or decrease it while leaving the rest of the body unaffected. Some MIT graduates actually got so good with their biofeedback mechanisms that they developed biokeys for accessing their homes/garages/computers etc. which responded when they told their bodies to do certain things such as heat your finger up.

[Col. Tartleton]

We're as alive as life can be. We're a very very complex biotic machine. So complex as to appear magical. In comparison a machine like a robot will not be alive until it functions at the level that it fulfills the definition of alive. So far that is:


Cells: What small parts living things are made out of
Carbon-Based: What similar chemicals animals are made of
Energy: What all living things require and use
Grow and develop: What all living things do throughout there life cycle
Stimuli: What all living things respond to
Reproduce: What all living things need to do to maintain the existence of there species

When we create a machine that is composed of cells, is carbon based, consumes an energy source, grows and develops on its own, responds and interacts with stimuli, and can replicate itself it is alive. Then it ceases to be a machine.

We are above the definition of alive. All you need to be alive is to be as advanced as an Archaea. We're a bit beyond that, but very much alive. Alive is just a certain type of machine. As we are alive we could argue its the best kind. A car is not alive and is inferior to a human, inferior even to an Archaea.

[Amorphos]

'Life' is not biological it is metaphysical, like colour, information, mind and thought etc, these things are simply not physical in the normal sense and cannot be described by the object of.

What happens is that you get a thing or a collection of things and when they combine to have let us say, 'self causality' [perhaps in humans this is the will/consciousness]. It is not such collections which are alive, it is rather the utility they make with far more subtle and universal natures, that when combined with these become things like e.g. ‘mind’ or consciousness. You wont find any quality of what you consider to be your mind within the physical. the physical is the servant of the metaphysical and vice versa.

Start with the maxim of nature not the minimum; the impersonal and non-anthropomorphic ‘god’ [because everything is that when mixed together to the maximum value of], then universals and principles [almost everything in the world goes by the principle of balance and polarity], then of the particular e.g. you ~ as a part of all that.

[Silver Guard]

Our body is incapable of functioning on an individual cellular level. Take a slice of our skin, reduce it to singular cells and attempt to give it a place to live and it will die without constant nutrition and controlled environment. Everything in our body is built to survive as part of a whole, not as individuals.

However, there are parts of us that can function without the others. Our brain can technically continue functioning completely apart from the body in the right, oxygenated and fluid, environment. Our body can also continue without the brain as long as the brain stem and spine remain. After brain death and the heart stopping most areas of the body take an extremely long time to die, comparatively, kept alive by neighbouring cells and their own metabolism.

So yes, we are alive, as a unit. However the parts of our body, and cells of our body are also alive. Else they would be necrotic. Go back to GCSE biology and remember Mrs Gren:
Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity
Growth
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition

The classification of what is "life". So we are alive, our cells, as individuals, are not. Only as part of the whole.