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Defining Life: A Conversation

Authors

  • Karina Kofman Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
  • Christoph Adami Michigan State University, Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology, Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • František Baluška Former Group Leader, IZMB, University of Bonn https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8763-7861
  • Joshua Bongard Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
  • Douglas Brash Departments of Therapeutic Radiology and Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8040
  • Paco Calvo Minimal Intelligence Laboratory (MINTLab), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
  • Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic Chalmers University of Technology and Mälardalen University, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9881-400X
  • Pranab Das Professor of Physics Emeritus, Senior Fellow, Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), UCLA
  • Chris Fields Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University Caunes Minervois, France Mesilla, NM
  • Tom Froese Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9899-5274
  • Pier Luigi Gentili Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Biotechnology, Università degli Studi di Perugia, 06123 Perugia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1092-9190
  • Georgi Yordanov Georgiev Assumption University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609
  • Scott F. Gilbert Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5071-8876
  • Timothy N. W. Jackson Australian Venom Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, University of Melbourne
  • Stuart Kauffman The Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109-5263
  • Nick Lane Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5433-3973
  • Perry Marshall Evolution 2.0, 805 Lake Street #295, Oak Park IL
  • Dan McShea Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705
  • William Miller Bioverse Foundation, Paradise Valley, Arizona
  • Stuart Newman Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595
  • Alistair Nunn Research Centre for Optimal Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, and The Guy Foundation, Dorset
  • Theodore P. Pavlic School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7073-6932
  • Martin Picard Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032
  • William Ratcliff School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
  • Arthur Reber Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • James Shapiro Professor emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago
  • Aaron Sloman University of Birmingham
  • Ricard Solé CREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona and Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Carlos Sonnenschein Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston MA 0211 and Centre Cavailles. ENS. Paris 75005 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3475-6423
  • Susan Stepney Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3146-5401
  • Richard Watson Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2521-8255
  • Olaf Witkowski Cross Compass Ltd. Cross Labs and University of Tokyo College of Arts and Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2101-2428
  • Michael Levin Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-8084

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.

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Published

2026-07-08 — Updated on 2026-07-10

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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

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