Gender: Unspecified Location: One for the other hand
Stephen Hawking
"I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image." --Stephen Hawking
Gender: Unspecified Location: One for the other hand
I wasn’t to sure if it should be in the RF or GDF, since it is talking about creating life and then the creating in the image of the creator. So it seemed to have a bit more of a religious feel for me.
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
My interpretation....
If humans didn't exist...there wouldn't be computer viruses...but then of course there have to be computers first before computer viruse could exist...
...it's the chicken and the egg mix with the clock maker and the clock.
I'd contend more about the nature of man than of the "life" of computer viruses...
does this mean fire and radiation finally get labeled as life too?
lol, anyways, its too easy intellectually sloppy to just chagrin the terrible nature of man. I'm very surprised to hear this attributed to him, especially as he benefits directly from the non-destructive nature of human invention...
any source? not that I doubt it, I'd just like to see some context
(also, *created life form* is difficult to pin down, as there are many GMOs which are technically created new life forms, although it seems to be counter to what he is saying)
They self-replicate though, which is the one constant among what we consider to be "life." No one said they are self-aware...that isn't even being discussed.
You'd have to qualify the definition of "alive" that's being used, but cpu viruses are every bit as alive as, say, airborne viruses that infect other life forms. Neither are aware of anything, so like I said it becomes a question of where you draw the line for "life"
...which is why I clarified that one's definition of life becomes paramount to the discussion. But thanks for keeping me in check. I was mainly just playing devil's advocate to his statement...I'm not really terribly opinionated on the matter.
Though to attempt to answer your question, I'd say that replication is probably something that must be present to ensure life, but it alone does not constitute life. So no, memes aren't alive, imo.
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Apr 21st, 2008 12:03 PM
