It seems like a simple question: what makes something alive? We know it when we see it: a bird in flight, a growing tree, a scurrying insect. Yet, as Don Simborg reveals here, the scientific community has been locked in a millennia-long struggle to find a definition that actually sticks. From the earliest philosophical musings to the complexities of “Vitalism” and the pioneering insights of Erwin Schrödinger, this book explores why every attempt to define life seems to hit a wall..

What is complicating this debate is that the very fundamentals of life are being changed by artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Worldwide conferences this century have highlighted the challenges and, if anything, widened the differences among scientists. What is Life? challenges readers to rethink their place in the universe. It is a must-read for anyone curious about the fundamental mystery that separates a collection of chemicals from a living, evolving being.