Prologue Prologue

Life. A remarkable concept. What constitutes what is or isn't "life?"

Created by gods or created by man: are these considered equal? If it meets all the necessary criteria, despite what would be considered "Artificial Creation," does it still count?

On the one hand, in the matter of science, life is described as:

A condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.

Some more spiritually describe the idea of life as pertaining to having an immortal soul, that we somehow are more than the sum of our parts here on this plane of existence, and that we continue to go on long after our shells cease functioning.

More than meets the eye…

Then, there are some that say being alive simply requires sentience. Self-awareness. The knowing of one's self, and that it exists in the universe. The knowledge of being an individual among the many, even if it is the only condition that exists. Some go even further to say that through the process of this awareness, a soul is born/created.

Agreeing with the first set of rules easily lets us assume that every animal and vegetable we know of to be fitted with this description, but a rock, even a walking, talking, whiskey-guzzling one, could never be "alive."

If we agree with the second set, then only naturally occurring life forms can be considered "alive," which, oddly, supports the inclusion of the rock, drunken stupor and all, but not something artificially created, like a computer or a book.

However, if we agree with the third set of rules, then the rock, the computer, and the book could all feasibly be sitting around a table playing poker with cards that constantly bicker at the way they are being shuffled and held.

In other words, anything is possible.