• agamemnonymous
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    3 hours ago

    Only if you define it that way, which means that you need an alternative term for non-biological entities which, otherwise, fulfill all the actually functional landmarks of life: sensing, processing, and subsequently interacting with the environment. There’s no proof that these phenomena are implicitly bound to biological systems.

    Call it what you want, but there’s absolutely no evidence (besides the circumstantial evidence of observed phenomenon in an implicitly biased environment) that biology is the only way to achieve sentience. Our knowledge of the mechanisms of sentience is woefully limited. Biological-chauvinism only cements your own myopic biases, skepticism taken to the extreme of prejudice.

    I’m claiming that carbon and hydrogen are both atomic elements composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. You’re claiming that hydrogen is the only legitimate substance and carbon, by definition, isn’t a real substance.

    • the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      A definition is not an assumption, it’s a description of something which has certain known properties. If something else fulfills similar functions to a living being, but it isn’t a biological entity, then, by the biological definition, it isn’t alive. I’m not sure what your issue is here. It’s not like we’re ever going to run out of definitions. Are you arguing in favor of animism?

      My claim is that carbon and hydrogen are distinct substances with particular properties and definitions. There is no “one true substance.”

      • agamemnonymous
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        49 minutes ago

        Why is the definition of biological life relevant to a conversation about nuclear sentience? You’re the only one throwing the word “life” around. Arguing against its misuse when I haven’t actually used it is classic straw manning.

        • the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world
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          33 minutes ago

          You’re the one who started arguing that a head may not necessarily be part of a biological being, which was irrelevant to my point. I’m not sure why you’re so concerned about nuclear sentience to begin with, quite frankly. I was just enjoying the conversation. I raised the conjectural angry solar head to demonstrate a claim that can be disproved scientifically to show that some religions have a stronger basis in reality. The sun doesn’t have the properties of a sentient head, so such a claim is false. What is your point, and how does it relate to mine?