You: You are not answering my question. A fire can move, grow, reproduce, consume fuel, leave waste and other things like any living creature. Being a chemical process is an additional property, not a contradiction of any definition of life that I can think of.

Aaron: In every human mind there is a concept of life. Even if we cannot easily define it, it is obviously contradicted by fire.

You: If "in every human mind" there was a definition of "human" that included two arms and two legs, would you say that a one-legged man is not human?

Aaron: You are obscuring the point. A chemical reaction is not a living thing regardless of how it behaves, just as a robot is not a living thing regardless of how it behaves.

How do you respond?

  1. Why should I accept your opinion? Go
  2. But people's actions are nothing but chemical reactions. Go