Life is defined in Wikipedia basically as: Life is a characteristic distinguishing objects having signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate. Biology is science concerned with the study of life.
And death is defined in Wikipedia basically as: Death is the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include biological aging (senescence), predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, murder and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death. There is no scientific evidence that suggests consciousness survives the death of an organism.
On these two subjects, I would like to introduce two other elements that I think are keys to analyzing what life and death are. These two elements are time, and physical size. These are just my thoughts on the subject I am not a scientist, or physicist, I am just an opinionated thinker so to say, or you may see me as an idiot. Criticism is a good practice done by all people, it’s inescapable.
Physical size matters simply because life is not very discernible below the cellular level. Life "I assume" begins when one single cell is grown into existence. Any object smaller than a cell is not considered to be alive or living and therefore is not of the characteristic we call life.
Could it be that life is as real as time itself? Time isn't real at all, or is it? Time is a man made method of measurement, devised to calculate and record past events into documents. Time is a concept. It is conceived that everything is moving at the same speed therefore there is one constant calculation for time.
When a living animal or plant dies it deteriorates and changes into a lesser basic element or chemical compound. But even at the time when the animal or plant was alive, it was also deteriorating simultaneously into another element or compound. So it seems that what we call dying or death is a constant process required not just to die, but also to live. And all the elements and compounds dispersed from the death process will become a part of another plant or animals birth.
The big question is; “what is consciousness, and does it, or can it survive the final death process?”
So, when we imagine death, we view it as not having a consciousness at all, therefore it is considered to be a sleep. A sleep that could be awaken many years later in another living creatures existence.
When I think of consciousness I usually view it as all the memories that I have acquired throughout the existance of my physical body. Not just the memories, but the abilities I have with this consciousness and the body in which I move about in, and consume all the the senses that my body feeds me with. All the thoughts, imaginations, sights, sounds, touches, emotions, smells, and memories.
Is it a fact that our brains have to be this large to be able to house our conscious intellect? It is common knowledge that we usually use only 10% of our brains capabilities. If it is true that we only use 10% of our brains capabilities. Then I assume that our brains could very well encompass our conscious intellect even if they were much smaller.
But even so, the question still remains; "Does conscious intelligence exist only in cellular structures of a certain size?" Is it fact that the smaller the creature the dumber it is? If consciousness is the will of survival, then the average sugar ant seems to be a pretty intelligent survivor and very small creature also.
But consciousness is not just the will of survival. To me it is much more than a will, desire, want, or instinct to survive. Consciousness is an acquired record of emotional experiences and the events that created, or caused them.
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