Scientists argue a lot about whether viruses are in fact living organisms or just organic structures interacting with living organisms. Some properties of viruses make them seem alive like the fact that they have genetic material and that they make copies of themselves to reproduce.nswer 3: Viruses are not considered alive because they lack many of the properties that scientists associate with living organisms. Primarily, they lack the ability to reproduce without the aid of a host cell, and don't use the typical cell-division approach to replication.