Reclassifying Viruses as Living?

[Richard Pyle]

I assume you mean this:

http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-06/cover/

?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Robin Leech
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 2:26 AM
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: Re: Reclassifying Viruses as Living?
>
>
> Hi Richard,
> Thanks for your reply.  I think the March 2006 issue of DISCOVER
> magazine, pages 32-39, will provide very interesting reading for
> Taxacom members.
> Robin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Pyle" <deepreef at BISHOPMUSEUM.ORG>
> To: <TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 1:49 AM
> Subject: Re: Reclassifying Viruses as Living?
>
>
> > The way I like to distinguish "life" from "non-living chemistry" is that
> > the
> > former is defined largely by the "flow" of information over
> time.  "Flow"
> > not in the physical sense, but in the sense that the "information"
> > transcends its physical basis in matter, and perpetuates imperfectly.
> >
> > If you take some heterogenous form of atomic matter (elements and
> > molecules), and combine it under a particular set of physical
> > circumstances,
> > it will yield a predictable (i.e., the same) set of products
> over and over
> > again.  This is what I would classify as non-living chemistry.
> But if the
> > products are not completely predictable (by laws of physics)
> over time and
> > multiple replicates, then something is happening. That "something" is
> > information, and the flow of information over timespans that exceed the
> > physical/material manifestations of the information storage
> system is the
> > essence of "life", in my view. What makes "information" in this sense
> > different from the simple physics of cause and effect, is that the
> > reactions
> > involved with non-living chemistry do not change if the physical
> > environment
> > does not change.  A chemical reaction will follow the same
> pattern in the
> > same conditions, even if it is separated by billions of years and occurs
> > in
> > different parts of the universe.  But information is mutable,
> and as such
> > is
> > itself the product of a legacy of information flow.  It is this flow of
> > information that unites all living things on planet Earth (as far as we
> > now
> > know).
> >
> > Now, clearly there are examples of infromation "flow" that are
> non-living,
> > and there are different ways of defining what constitutes "information".
> > So
> > I don't pretend that this is the be-all and end-all distinction between
> > life
> > and non-living chemistry. But it (information flow) does strike me as a
> > fundamental characteristic (perhaps THE fundamental characteristic) of
> > "life". Also, although most of what we think of as "life" is
> organized in
> > cohesive (more or less) units that represent collections (sacks) of
> > non-living chemistry, and much of this (organic) chemistry is unique to
> > living processes (e.g., metabolic pathways), to me those chemical
> > reactions
> > per se are not really what "defines" life.
> >
> > So, I tend to side with others who regard viruses as within the realm of
> > "life".  I find this a particularly easy conclusion to arrive at given
> > that,
> > as has already been pointed out, the information content of viruses is
> > stored in the same basic material form as the information stored in
> > everything else we lump under the umbrella of "life".
> >
> > To me, a trickier (and perhaps more interesting) question is: what are
> > prions?  Life, or non-living chemistry? I personally favor the latter
> > interpretation in this case.
> >
> > Aloha,
> > Rich
> >
> > P.S. Sorry about that...it's late, and I'm tired, and I'm avoiding the
> > work
> > that I really should be doing right now...
> >
> > Richard L. Pyle, PhD
> > Database Coordinator for Natural Sciences
> >  and Associate Zoologist in Ichthyology
> > Department of Natural Sciences, Bishop Museum
> > 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
> > Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
> > email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
> > http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/staff/pylerichard.html
> >