Welcome to the third post in our Sententia Discussion series! Please engage in the discussion below the post. For a reminder of what the Sententia Discussion series is, and how it’s supposed to work, see this post. Remember, discussion topics will be posted on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
Background
The search for extra-terrestrial life tends to focus on the requirements for life on Earth: carbon, oxygen, liquid water, and so forth. There are arguments that support the idea that any life would have similar needs. Yet there are also arguments that life could be so alien that we might not even recognize it as life. Indeed, the biological definition of life can be interpreted to include things like stars, which are generally not considered “alive.”
Prompt
Is it responsible for irresponsible for us to take such an anthropocentric view in the search for alien life?
Is the current, biological definition of life adequate? How would you define “life?”
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