In article ,
"symplastless" wrote:

[Following the same logic we are just a couple
of dollars worth of inanimate chemicals, whose form, matrix if you will,
conjures up the phenomenon of life. ]

By weight we are made up of 98% of the same chemicals as trees. What makes
us different is the way the chemicals are connected.
(carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus)
Life is a journey powered by the sun. We are made up of chemicals borrowed
from the earth. In death, those chemicals are returned. The theme of life
appears to be buildup and breakdown.

All analogies breakdown at some point, but I prefer to think of it as a
relay race for survival with the baton of life being passed on to the
next participant.

The evidence that comes from rocks is that life was once very simple, by
modern standards, but the struggle to survive gave rise to new forms of
life that adapted to local conditions for survival. From mass one cell
reproduction, to exploiting dry land, to sexual reproduction, to sheer
mass in size, to conceptual thinking, it is all about survival, not of
the individual or even the species, but life itself.

Reminds me, I need breakfast:-)
--

Billy

Bush & Cheney, Behind Bars