title: Life Itself: A Comprehensive Inquiry Into the Nature, Origin, and Fabrication of Life (Complexity in Ecological Systems)
author: Robert Rosen
description: "Drawing on the languages of organizational theory, cybernetics, and category theory, Rosen questions the classic machine metaphor of life.... Once formulated, Rosen uses his concept of life to revisit relational biology, molecular biology, evolution, and chemical sequences." -- "Choice"
zlib_text: Bruce Sterling bruces@well.sf.ca.us Literary Freeware: Not For Commercial Use
  F&SF; Science column #4 from THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, Dec
  1992. F&SF;, Box 56 Cornwall CT 06753 $26/yr; outside US $31/yr ARTIFICIAL
  LIFE The new scientific field of study called "Artificial Life" can be defined
  as "the attempt to abstract the logical form of life from its material
  manifestation." So far, so good. But what is life? The basic thesis of
  "Artificial Life" is that "life" is best understood as a complex systematic
  process. "Life" consists of relationships and rules and interactions. "Life"
  as a property is potentially separate from actual living creatures. Living
  creatures (as we know them today, that is) are basically made of wet organic
  substances: blood and bone, sap and cellulose, chitin and ichor. A living
  creature -- a kitten, for instance -- is a physical object that is made of
  molecules and occupies space and has mass. A kitten is indisputably "alive" --
  but not because