Classification of Life

Overview

Under the development of the World Research Council, Project Outwatch has been provided with an initial set of classifications for the identification of life. The identification of life takes place across four axes: substrate, energy-use, replication, and pattern-integrity. Note that the classification scale is not meant to identify the type of life, but rather the probability that something is alive.

Substrate

Potential life is classed along the substrate axis with a designation from Sω to S0, where Sω indicates the substrate is identical to terrestrial biology, and the further from Sω the less similar the substrate:

• Sω pertains to organic chemical compounds that are identical to those in terrestrial biology
• S7 pertains to organic chemical compounds that replicate the universal functions of terrestrial biology
• S6 pertains to a mix of organic and non-organic chemical compounds that replicate the functions of terrestrial biology
• S5 pertains to non-organic chemical compounds that replicate the functions of terrestrial biology
• S4 pertains to chemical compounds that do not replicate the functions of terrestrial biology
• S3 pertains to non-chemical substrates that replicate some functions of terrestrial biology
• S2 pertains to non-chemical substrates that do not replicate the functions of terrestrial biology
• S1 pertains to simulating substrates, such that they perform the tasks of universal computers and could simulate terrestrial or non-terrestrial biological functions
• S0 pertains to substrate-independence

Energy Use

The second axis denotes the intake, use and waste of energy along a scale from Eω to E0:

• Eω pertains to regular energy intake, use and waste
• E9 pertains to regular energy intake and waste
• E8 pertains to regular energy intake and ambiguity between waste and use
• E7 pertains to regular energy intake and use
• E6 pertains to irregular energy intake, but regular energy use and waste
• E5 pertains to irregular energy intake and use but regular waste
• E4 pertains to irregular energy intake but regular use
• E3 pertains to irregular energy intake and use
• E2 pertains to single formative energy intake, but regular or irregular use and waste
• E1 pertains to single formative energy intake, but regular or irregular use
• E0 pertains to single formative energy intake, but regular or irregular waste

Life that takes in energy (e.g. as food), uses that energy (e.g. to grow or to move) and wastes some energy (e.g. as excrement) will score "higher" on the scale and be most likely to be considered and officially recognised as life.

Replication

The third axis denotes replication, including all forms of reproduction, and again moves from Rω, similar to terrestrial life, to R0, most dissimilar.

• Rω pertains to terrestrial replication, such as cell division, sexual reproduction and the like
• R5 pertains to single-cycle copies, where the pattern is reproduced in whole from one entity to the next
• R4 pertains to multi-cycle copies, where the pattern produces a distinctly different pattern, producing a cycle of entities that eventually reproduces the original pattern
• R3 pertains to generative copies, where each copy is sufficiently distinct but maintains a significant portion of the original pattern
• R2 pertains to stochastic copies, where patterns produce multiple offspring patterns and generally tend to produce a replica pattern
• R1 pertains to non-conforming copies, where patterns produce further patterns that could be viably classified as life, but where the parent copy and child copies do not systematically produce patterns of the original
• R0 pertains to patterns that do not produce copies

Pattern Integrity

This axis denotes the ability of some entity to maintain a sense of bodily or organisational integrity, including systematic growth, healing and boundedness.

• Pω pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, repair integrity, progress integrity, and are well-delineated
• P8 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, repair integrity, and are well-delineated
• P7 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, progress integrity, and are well-delineated
• P6 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, and are well-delineated
• P5 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, and are well-delineated
• P4 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, repair integrity and progress integrity
• P4 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, and repair integrity
• P3 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity, and progress integrity
• P2 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity
• P1 pertains to patterns that maintain integrity
• P0 pertains to patterns that do not maintain integrity

Debate

The scale for the classification of life is somewhat debated among researchers, though the ends of the scale are well-agreed upon, as Dr. Rishar Nuws considers:

There is no doubt that at one end of the scale we have a clear description of terrestrial life, and if we were to see a rabbit, or a creature that hops, eats, shits and doesn't fall apart when it moves its paws, we would immediately and uncontroversially consider it life. And at the other extreme end of the scale we have a complete non-entity - it has no form, no limits, no substance, nothing at all. Such an amorphous thing can never be called life. But what the scale does not tell us - and perhaps there is no scale that can - is where the cutoff is between life and non-life. And, as such, the scale is somewhat useless, because we already know the difference between a rock and a rabbit, but the debate still rages between whether a virus is alive or dead.

In response, Dr. Arrew Gusmee wrote:

The job of the scale is to point out things of significance when considering whether something is life or not. At that, it does well. We can tell with a glance whether something is getting close to the unambiguous end of interest or the end of extreme boredom, and seeing R4-E7 will immediately raise our philophical interest.

When developing the scale, Dr. Kanar Daffeace said:

It surprised me to find that a virus lay at about Sω-E1-R5-P2 - a very up and down classification that illustrates the complexity of the situation and how we have to be careful with ambiguity. We should expect the unexpected, and we should expect and embrace debate, because what we are going to find in the universe is likely to be weird and wild, and that's why the word 'alien', though I hesitate to use it, should be very appropriate. The biggest mistake we can make is not that we don't look carefully, but that we dismiss what we look at too quickly and confidently.