3 ms·
Neither do rickettsia or chlamydia, two bacteria. Honestly, whoever was deciding on the definition of "what is life" knew ahead of time the kinds of things they
by novia 9y ago
Neither do rickettsia or chlamydia, two bacteria. Honestly, whoever was deciding on the definition of "what is life" knew ahead of time the kinds of things they wanted to include and they worked backwards from there.
We want to exclude viruses because they are too mechanical. There's no magic to them. That's the way it appeared before we started finding all these giant viruses anyways.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoThey're not more mechanical than cells are, and that's been known since viruses were distinguished from cells. But the presence of a cell wall is a pretty significant feature nonetheless.