Interestingly, most definitions of life that would characterize a virus as alive, would also characterize ideas and culture as living (unless you add some expli

Interestingly, most definitions of life that would characterize a virus as alive, would also characterize ideas and culture as living (unless you add some explicit requirements like "must have DNA" or "transmission between hosts must happen by transfer of matter"). It's easy to reject that out of hand, but if you think a bit about the Ship of Theseus, then it might not be so crazy to think that what is important is the replication and mutation of patterns rather than the specific matter carrying that pattern. Cf. also The Selfish Gene, where Dawkins coined the term "meme" as a mental analogue to a gene.