vitalism

[Vedius Pollio]

Give your opinion now.

[Xero]

nothing
we've already created plastic blood that acts exactly like real blood

we're a year away from creating a plastic cell that acts exactly like a real cell

organic matter just happens to have reproduce itself through known chemical interactions

[Swordsman3003]

I'll believe there is a different when somebody proves there is one.

There's no reason, yet, to think that arranging molecules in a particular order gives them metaphysical properties.

[Kittyboymuffin]

"There is a difference because I say so!"

Yeah, I voted no difference.

[Halo299]

put me in the "i just don't know" category.

i think that a consciousness should count for something.

as in; i think it is wrong to smash something that will suffer from the experience. while it is not wrong to smash something that is not even aware of its own existence.

I simply do not know what a consciousness is.

other than that thought i don't think it matters. if the living material is not self aware (ie, cloned organs, tissue samples, hair follicles) i see know difference between a non-aware collection of living cells and a soda can.

i see no difference between a lab mouse and a new born baby laughing in its mothers arms.

so i picked the last one, but i'm not sure if that is right or not.

-halo

[Warmachine]

I voted nothing because 'life energy' requires definition and the rest is just religious claptrap. The difference is living beings need their energy and nutrient processing and transfer systems, such as blood, in continuous motion or the entire thing crashes and can't be restarted. It must also reproduce itself.

This is a fuzzy definition but such is the English language.

[Nithos]

I don't see where the language is failing you there. The disorganized nature of the language gives you more ways to put together thoughts than more streamlined languages. If you take the idea of new speak in 1984 and work backwards, you get something close to my opinion of English. Bastardized, inefficient, disorganized, but very flexible. For all the reasons new speak was supposed to limit the range of expression, and thus of thought, I think english gives you more freedom in expression. It doesn't do the work for you, or predispose you to clear thinking, but it gives you option.

And I couldn't vote in the poll, as all the choices seemed to have a metaphysical nature, except "nothing," but there is a difference. I don't think there's a universal will, a spirit, or a life energy that drives life, it's a material thing, but it's a different kind of material thing than anything not living.