Fact check: What are the properties that constitute life

1. Summary of the results

The analyses reveal multiple scientific and philosophical approaches to defining the properties that constitute life. The most comprehensive framework presents 18 distinctive characteristics of life, including existence, subjectivity, agency, and purposiveness, arguing that life is a nonphysical entity that cannot be reduced to its physical components ^[1].

From a more traditional biological perspective, life is characterized by several core properties:

• Use of enzymes for metabolic processes
• Storage and transmission of hereditary information
• Adaptation to environmental changes
• Maintenance of homeostasis (internal balance)
• Cellular organization ^[2]

NASA's educational framework emphasizes common traits shared across all living organisms, including the ability to reproduce, grow, respond to stimuli, and maintain homeostasis ^[3]. An alternative process-oriented definition describes life as occurring in highly organized organic structures that are preprogrammed, interactive, adaptive, and evolutionary ^[4].

A thermodynamic approach defines life as autonomous heat engine networks - self-regulating processes that convert thermodynamic disequilibria into directed motion, performing work that locally reduces entropy ^[5].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question lacks several important contextual considerations that emerge from the analyses:

• The virus debate: Multiple sources discuss whether viruses should be considered living entities, with some arguing they should be classified as alive based on their ability to interact, adapt, reproduce, and evolve, despite not meeting all traditional criteria ^{[2] [4]}.
• Philosophical vs. scientific perspectives: The analyses reveal a significant divide between purely materialistic biological definitions and philosophical approaches that argue life has primacy and supremacy over the physical realm and cannot be reduced to its constituent parts ^[1].
• Astrobiology implications: The search for life beyond Earth requires broader definitions that may not be Earth-centric, as emphasized in NASA's astrobiology educational materials ^[3].
• Process vs. entity distinction: Some definitions focus on life as a dynamic process rather than a static set of properties, emphasizing the evolutionary and adaptive nature of living systems ^[4].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself does not contain misinformation, as it is a straightforward inquiry about the properties of life. However, the question's simplicity may inadvertently suggest that there is a single, universally accepted definition of life's properties.

The analyses reveal potential academic and institutional biases:

• Educational institutions and NASA benefit from promoting standardized, teachable definitions that may oversimplify the complexity of defining life ^[3]
• Philosophical perspectives that argue for life's nonphysical nature may conflict with materialistic scientific approaches, potentially serving different academic or ideological interests ^[1]
• The thermodynamic approach represents a more specialized scientific viewpoint that may not align with traditional biological education ^[5]

The question would benefit from acknowledging that defining life remains an active area of scientific and philosophical debate, with different frameworks serving different purposes in research, education, and the search for extraterrestrial life.