Is the sun alive?

[Romeo]

Could stars be living entities? Maybe not life as we know it, but then, what do we mean by life anyway? Sure, the sun is a ball of burning gas, but by the same token you and I are just a lump of chemicals, aren't we?

[mibn2cweus]

If you limit your definition of life to that of a self-sustaining, self-generated process, then the Sun falls within the context of that definition. However the term �life� usually entails actively procuring outside materials that help to sustain and promote growth and the ability to reproduce other life forms of a similar nature and method of survival.

Reproduction helps to ensure continuity in the face of potentially fatal circumstances including a diminishing ability to maintain growth indefinitely or changes in the environment to which a particular living entity may not be able to adjust.

Some stars (larger that the Sun) are however responsible for manufacturing the elements necessary for the developement of the life forms we observe here on Earth. These elements that were fused together within the gravitational forces of larger stars were delivered by the death throws of these larger stars into the environment in which our Sun and the rest of our solar system formed.

The key essential characteristic that distinguishes the human species from all other life forms we have so far observed is our ability to reason, a unique ability that presents our species with a wide variety of options for adjusting to a changing world and on which we have come to rely on for our continued survival.

[tompaine]

The sun is not living by any definition of the word. The sun does not take on nutrients to delay the 2nd law of thermodynamics; the sun doesn't reproduce; the sun cannot adapt through darwinian methods.

The reason for this is that all life carries a set of instructions (DNA/RNA) and is able to pass these on to the next generation. There is no evidence that the sun contains DNA or RNA.

Reasoning is not a unique ability of humans. For starters there is evidence that dolphins and apes can reason. Humans have an advanced form of reasoning relative to other animals but it's not unique. As for adaptation, many animals have the ability to adapt to changing environments and in the long run may prove to adapt better than we do.

[Bob A Job]

Tompaine,
DNA is not a requisit for life, only a requisit for life as we know it. Its not impossible for certain cells to reproduce without DNA therefore its probably that they do.
Google 'Red Rain in India', many believe its primary evidence of life without DNA.

[tompaine]

Well, Bob you are making some pretty big leaps of faith based on tentative speculation by fringe scientists. If life on earth was started by panspermia then rna/dna would still be the most likely molecules considering they are the total sum of the blueprint of life on earth. That said you could substitute dna/rna for: "a set of viable instructions that can be passed on with low copy error to the next generation". I.E. life needs heredity

[Bob A Job]

In terms of molecular biology the way DNA replicates and the way prions bond and reform are identicle. At what point do you draw the line between chemical reaction, and life.
Evolution is just the death of all other eventual outcomes due to environment, after billions of years of evolution life on earth is one leaf on a forest of possabilities.
Having said all this, I cant see the Sun being good company down the pub on a friday night. So id say no to the original question