When do you believe life begins?

[lastchance]

If I remember from Biology, a life form must be able to reproduce, respond to stimuli, metobolism, and growth. I don't think sperm or eggs have metabolism or growth. I could be wrong here though.

[kurto]

I'm not entirely sure myself. I haven't studied biology for 16-17 years. But apparently, there is no consensus. From Encyclopedia.com:

[ QUOTE ]
although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction. Protozoa perform, in a single cell, the same life functions as those carried on by the complex tissues and organs of humans and other highly developed organisms. The attributes of life are inherent in such minute structures as viruses, bacteria, and genes, just as they are in the whale and the giant sequoia.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless I'm misunderstanding the use of the words, cells are either 'alive' or 'dead'. From that, can one not extrapolate that the sperm and eggs are a form of life? Sperm cells and eggs, if they do not merge, do 'die'... no?

I have no problem admitting this isn't my field of expertise. (cellular life)

[lehighguy]

A dog can live on its own. That doesn't make it a special kind of life. Simply bein physically self sufficient isn't Life with a capital L in my view. There has to be something more.

Right before I read this post I was watching an episode of NextGen. Data asked the doctor what life was. You see Data was an android, but he was considered alive because he was self aware and various other reasons. Data was assembled piece by piece in a laboratory. At one point he was a random assembly of parts, and the next he was "alive". When and how did that happen? What in that split second changed that made him infinetely more valuable then he was a split second earlier?

I'm not even sure what live is. How do you define it? Without a definition, I have a hard time knowing when it begins, because I'm not even sure what it is.

When I hear in the news people argueing that such and such trimester is alive and such and such trimester isn't I'm never satisfied with thier explanations. It seems arbitrary and political rather then based on any strong logical arguement.

[goofball]

I notice you didn't specify "human life"

As such, I said conception.

[fluxrad]

I think "human" life begins somewhere in between. I don't think a 3 week old undeveloped fetus is human life. But I don't think people should be having last-minute abortions while in the middle of labor.

To me, if a human child could reasonably be expected to live on its own (i.e. without *serious* life support beyond what is considered normal for a newborn) then it's "alive." This basically pegs my definition of human life right around the third trimester (6 months+)

[BCPVP]

I would argue that from the moment sperm met egg, that organism could be nothing but human life. It won't grow into anything else. It may not be a complete human yet, but I don't think "completeness" should be the determining factor when establishing when life begins (an amputee is still alive, are they not?). I don't like the talk of "potential" humans. Wouldn't it be more correct to say they're human and have yet to fully form, like a caterpillar that has yet to morph into a butterfly?

For those unsure of where life begins (especially with regard to abortion), think of it like a trial. Wouldn't you err on the side of caution when determining the fate of the defendant?

My $0.02

[tomdemaine]

at 40

[Il_Mostro]

At 200 of course, what's there to argue about? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
I would argue that from the moment sperm met egg, that organism could be nothing but human life. It won't grow into anything else. It may not be a complete human yet, but I don't think "completeness" should be the determining factor when establishing when life begins (an amputee is still alive, are they not?). I don't like the talk of "potential" humans. Wouldn't it be more correct to say they're human and have yet to fully form, like a caterpillar that has yet to morph into a butterfly?

For those unsure of where life begins (especially with regard to abortion), think of it like a trial. Wouldn't you err on the side of caution when determining the fate of the defendant?

My $0.02

[/ QUOTE ]

Embryology textbooks use conception as the starting point of life. Anything else is rather arbirtrary.