Defining Life: A Conversation

Authors

  • Karina Kofman Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
  • Christoph Adami Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University
  • František Baluška Institute of Cellular and Molecular Botany, University of Bonn
  • Joshua Bongard Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont
  • Douglas Brash Departments of Therapeutic Radiology and Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine
  • Paco Calvo Minimal Intelligence Laboratory (MINTLab), University of Murcia
  • Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic Chalmers University of Technology and Mälardalen University
  • Pranab Das Professor of Physics Emeritus, Senior Fellow, Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA
  • Chris Fields Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University
  • Tom Froese Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
  • Pier Luigi Gentili Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Biotechnology, Università degli Studi di Perugia
  • Georgi Yordanov Georgiev Assumption University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • Scott F. Gilbert Department of Biology, Swarthmore College
  • Timothy N. W. Jackson Australian Venom Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne
  • Stuart Kauffman Institute for Systems Biology and Sante Fe Institute
  • Nick Lane Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London
  • Perry Marshall Evolution 2.0
  • Dan McShea Department of Biology, Duke University
  • William Miller Bioverse Foundation
  • Stuart Newman Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, New York Medical College
  • Alistair Nunn Research Centre for Optimal Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster and The Guy Foundation
  • Theodore P. Pavlic School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University
  • Martin Picard Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
  • William Ratcliff School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Arthur Reber Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
  • James Shapiro Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago
  • Aaron Sloman University of Birmingham
  • Ricard Solé CREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Santa Fe Institute
  • Carlos Sonnenschein Tufts University and École Normale Supérieur
  • Susan Stepney Department of Computer Science, University of York
  • Richard Watson Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton
  • Olaf Witkowski Cross Labs and University of Tokyo College of Arts and Sciences
  • Michael Levin Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2532-5876/19492

Abstract

Life is one of the most fascinating features of the physical world. Despite centuries of scientific study, experts still disagree about the definition, and even the possibility or utility of a definition, of this field. In a recent paper, we used AI to analyze the conceptual space formed by definitions of life given by a select set of modern workers in the life sciences and related fields. However, some of the most interesting material emerged as real-time conversations among those polled. In order to ensure that these ideas are not lost to the peer-reviewed scientific record, we here provide a minimally-edited (largely verbatim) transcript of the email chain among leading thinkers, containing numerous clarifications, disagreements, and challenges that enrich the topic of Life. It is our hope that this case study serves as an example for future papers, since the exchange of ideas among scientists is at least as interesting and valuable as formal scientific manuscripts written from a single perspective.

Downloads

Published

2026-07-08 — Updated on 2026-07-13

Versions

How to Cite

Kofman, K., Adami, C., Baluška, F., Bongard, J., Brash, D., Calvo, P., Dodig-Crnkovic, G., Das, P., Fields, C., Froese, T., Gentili, P. L., Georgiev, G. Y., Gilbert, S. F., Jackson, T. N. W., Kauffman, S., Lane, N., Marshall, P., McShea, D., Miller, W., Newman, S., Nunn, A., Pavlic, T. P., Picard, M., Ratcliff, W., Reber, A., Shapiro, J., Sloman, A., Solé, R., Sonnenschein, C., Stepney, S., Watson, R., Witkowski, O., & Levin, M. (2026). Defining Life: A Conversation. Organisms. Journal of Biological Sciences, 9(1), 11–47. https://doi.org/10.13133/2532-5876/19492 (Original work published July 8, 2026)

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2026): Special Issue, "What is Life?"

Section

Perspectives and Hypotheses

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Karina Kofman, Christoph Adami, František Baluška, Joshua Bongard, Douglas Brash, Paco Calvo, Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Pranab Das, Chris Fields, Tom Froese, Pier Luigi Gentili, Georgi Yordanov Georgiev, Scott F. Gilbert, Timothy N. W. Jackson, Stuart Kauffman, Nick Lane, Perry Marshall, Dan McShea, William Miller, Stuart Newman, Alistair Nunn, Theodore P. Pavlic, Martin Picard, William Ratcliff, Arthur Reber, James Shapiro, Aaron Sloman, Ricard Solé, Carlos Sonnenschein, Susan Stepney, Richard Watson, Olaf Witkowski, Michael Levin

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Copyright Agreement with Authors

Before publication, after the acceptance of the manuscript, authors have to sign a Publication Agreement with Organisms. The authors retain all rights to the original work without any restrictions.

License for Published Contents

Licenza Creative Commons
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Licence scheme | Legal code

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>