Comment on He was no friend to the middle class
Steve@communick.news 3 hours agoIf brain dead is dead bacteria are dead.
A brain dead body isn’t a person, but that doesn’t make it a corpse. All the biological functions continue. The ATP cycle continues. The body takes in nutrients and uses them to maintain their nirmal biological functions. Corpses don’t do that.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
that isn’t biology, it’s philosophy.
we don’t have a good definition of What’s alive either
Steve@communick.news 1 hour ago
Actually we do have a pretty solid biological definition for life.
That which takes in nutrients, processes them to support itself, and expells waste products. Anything that dose those things is life. That’s why viruses aren’t considered alive. They don’t do those things.
The person part you’re right, is more philosophical. I only mention it because it seems to better fit what people are calling “dead” in this case.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 57 minutes ago
OK, spores aren’t alive. dissecated watebears aren’t alive
the highschool definition isnt used by biologists because it’s oversimplified and doesn’t hold up to the diversity of life.