whatt is the defination of life?
396836
Well, on "Sesame Street", I was taught that:\n\n"A puppy is alive (yeahyeahyeahyeah yeah!)\nAnd a kitty is alive (yeahyeahyeahyeah yeah!)\nAnd a tree is alive (yeahyeahyeahyeah yeah!)\nAnd a chicken is alive (yeahyeahyeahyeah yeah!)\nThey eat, and breathe, and grow (ooo-ooooh!)\nAnd that is how you know, oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, \nThat they're alive (alive)\nThat they're a-li-yi-yi-yi-yive! THEY'RE ALIVE!!\n\n.... and except for a few things like anaerobic bacteria, it is a pretty good rule of thumb.
237364
No offense to the other people who answered, but you've gotten some unintelligent and outright dumb answers.  \n\nFirst, you have to define 'life'.  Merriam-Webster (see www.m-w.com) includes 20 definitions!  Here are the pertinent ones, with more comments below.  \n\n"1 a : the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body b : a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings -- compare VITALISM 1 c : an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction"\n\n"5 a : the period from birth to death "\n\n"8 : a vital or living being; specifically : PERSON <many lives were lost in the disaster>"\n\nDefinitions 1a and 8 define life one way, while 1c and 5 define life in different ways.  It is all in how one interprets them...\n\nMany biologists, including myself, define the beginning of life as the point in time when an organism is viable.  That means that an organism is able to survive in the external environment without nurturing from the parents.  A conservative estimate for the point of time when a fetus might be viable is at the end of the second trimester.  To err on the side of caution, we can even push this back a month; let us say at 5 months instead of 6.  We can push it back a month to account for future increases in technology.  Carl Sagan strongly agrees with this point of view and describes it much more eloquently than I could possibly explain it his book "Billions and Billions".  \n\nDefinition 5a spells out that life begins at birth and ends at death.  This is straightforward but I doubt few would 100% agree with it. \n\nDefinition 1c is at the seat of the controversy over when life begins.  If someone defines life as “the capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction”, no one can make the philosophical or logical argument that life doesn’t begin at fertilization or conception.  At that point, one can only lay out their argument for when they feel life begins.  According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), about 50 percent of all fertilized human embryos are spontaneously aborted.  Figuratively, when an embryo is spontaneously aborted, it has reached the ‘end of its life’ (see other definitions of ‘life’), but it doesn’t mean the embryo was alive.  \n\nIn closing, the definition one ascribes to ‘life’ depends on their moral, social, and religious views.  Despite obvious differences in how people will define life, it is paramount to understand someone’s definition, and I hope this little answer helps just a little.
485729
What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives. Some people believe that the meaning of life is one or more of the following:\n\nSurvival and temporal success\n\n...to accumulate wealth and increase social status \n...to compete or co-operate with others \n...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance \n...to protect one's family, no matter the cost \n...to gain and exercise power \n...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book \n...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction \n...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially \n...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate \n...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means (see life extension) \nWisdom and knowledge\n\n...to be without question, or to keep asking questions \n...to explore, to expand beyond our frontiers \n...to learn from one's own and others' mistakes \n...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom \n...to try to discover and understand the meaning of life \n...to experience anything if not something in this world \nEthical\n\n...to express compassion \n...to live in peace with each other, and in harmony with our natural environment (see utopia) \n...to give and receive love \n...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life \n...to serve others, or do good deeds \n...to work for justice and democracy \nReligious, spiritual and esoteric\n\n...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context \n...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace \n...to become God, or God-like \n...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. God) \n...to follow the "Golden Rule" \n...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity) \n...to reach Heaven in the afterlife \n...to understand and follow the "Word of God" \n...to worship, serve, or achieve union with God \nOther\n\n...to advance natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race \n...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future human \n...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me") \n...to die, or become a martyr \n...to find a purpose, a "reason" for living that hopefully raises the quality of one's experience of life, or even life in general \n...to live, and enjoy the passage of time \n...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment \n...to pursue a dream, vision, or destiny \n...to relate, connect, or achieve unity with others \n...to seek and find beauty \n...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose) \n...still some do not even think there is any purpose whatsoever
636490
Life on other planets\nMeanings of the things\nLife\nEverything\nNothing\nGod\nDemons\n\nAnd so on…\n\nThe most important may be the exact answer for your question ;-)
318801
It's the meaning of life
66230
This question has been asked 194 times before. Probably explains the lack of answers. You can check out what the answers to previous questions were using the link below.\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AvBHkC0IQ1pNE5kZDHWNGAcezKIX?p=%22what+is+the+meaning+of+life%22
755752
its about a beautiful life.\n\n:> peace
1006
CHEESE!\n\nOr if you want a more philisophical answer:\n\n"What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves. Some people believe that the meaning of life is:\n\n...to accumulate wealth \n...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context \n...to advance natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race \n...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future human \n...to be without question, or to keep asking questions \n...to become God, or God-like \n...to compete or co-operate with others \n...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me") \n...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance \n...to die, or become a martyr \n...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. God) \n...to express compassion \n...to find inner peace \n...to gain and exercise power \n...to give and receive love \n...to give life meaning (an example of antimetabole) \n...to learn and find enlightenment \n...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book \n...to live in peace with each other, and in harmony with our natural environment (see utopia) \n...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction \n...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity) \n...to pursue a dream, vision, or destiny \n...to relate, connect, or achieve unity with others \n...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life \n...to seek and find beauty \n...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally, financially, or spiritually \n...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate \n...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom \n...to serve others, or do good deeds \n...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose, existence has no meaning beyond which one chooses to give it) \n...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means (see life extension) \n...to try to understand the meaning of life \n...to work for justice and democracy \n...to worship, serve, or achieve union with God \n...or some combination of the above
18144
Life gives the living something to do until death.
258309
LIFE.....HMMM....LIFE IS THE UNEXPECTED THINGS NEXT DOOR....IN SIMPLE WORDS ITS THE THINGS WHICH COME UP UNEXPECTEDLY EVRY NEW SECOND...
689654
"Life" is simply a state.  It is the synchronous operations of billions of cells in your body, and if you will atoms, arranged in such a way to function together as one.  Thus, death would be the ceasing of that function.\n\nIf you mean "sentience", that is consciousness, this functionality comes from within the brain.
338797
Life is being or existing in a constant state of mind and body.  The purpose of life varies based upon beliefs.  To some it is to be judged, to others it is to become one with the world, and for others life has no purpose, they exist and do the best they can.
13347
the meaning of life....\nthe reason we live....\nis only to die
960557
you mean what is the meaning of life on earth?  what is our purpose? who knows, and why does it matter anyway?  \n\nIt's nice to ponder on such things, but we don't actually NEED all the answers in life to live a fulfilling happy existence anyway.
467828
Life is the opposite of death.
405667
life = to live and experience
369681
There is no "meaning of life".  The concept of meaning is a language tool which has no given purpose.  However, knowing that words have meaning allows people to dream up meaning for themselves and pursue it as their own identity, and convince themselves through daily affirmations that the universe had given it to them.