What is Life?

There are five ideas that, when joined together, can help us better understand the interconnection that exists between all living organisms on our planet, and these are the cell, the gene, evolution by natural selection, life as chemistry, and life as information. Life on Earth, in fact, is one huge, intimately interconnected ecosystem, in which all life forms are genetically related to each other. Humans, as far as we know, are the only organisms that are able to comprehend this interconnectedness, and therefore have a greater responsibility for life on Earth.

Rapid developments in the field of genetic engineering and technology allow us to intervene more and more in the mechanisms underlying life itself, but this may be very risky if we do not have the full picture. This is why the various branches of biology must work together, in order to improve our knowledge of how the entire biosphere works. What’s more, we also need to develop a common standard of ethics to regulate human intervention. Today, we have a real opportunity to put our knowledge to good use and to make life on Earth better for every living organism.