DEFINITION
A living object is material in an ordered state, which actively maintains its state (at least), and (better yet) is able to rearrange increasing amounts of its environment into something similar to itself, by growth (ok) or replication (best of all).
In detail, it’s an object that is…
- significantly more ordered than its environment (maybe not its immediate environment, as a bacterium living inside an animal, but its broader environment, like the environment that animal lives in), and
- actively maintains its ordered state (when its order is disrupted, energy is involved in (attempting to) return to its previous state), and
- is able to make more of itself or something very similar to itself.
Very Universe 