Comment by IAmBroom

We have to agree on the basic definition of ultra-basic terms.

You just proposed a definition. Good. It's not complete, but necessary, conditionally.

Basically, we shouldn't use "alive" and "dead" as dualities. There's at least three states: "dead/inert/never gonna get there", "meets a definition of life (see next category) when supplemented by a host cell or something else complex and exterior", "can self-replicate and grow on its own, in a friendly environment with sufficient food/fuel/inputs available = life".

Maybe more. But let's stop pretending biology is dead versus alive, because viruses definitely ruin that.