Seeing as most computers have more processing power than the brain of something like an ant, could there be an argument that computers are alive?

To respond to Mark’s analogy of organic life compared to computers:

Birth – Assembly

Growth – Data and/or program storage

Stop growth – Data capacity

Feeding – Electricity or material processing (if applicable)

Self-healing – Recalibration (organic life also has a very limited ability to self-heal in proportion to damage)

Reproduction – von Neuman machines; not all life does or is capable of reproduction, but this is a designable criteria

Death – Critical failure

Additional virtually all organic life can be broken down into recognizable hardware: pumps, pipes, electrical systems, sensors, chemical reactors … We are just beginning to understand the software side. DNA seems to be like Read Only Memory, RNA is a form of signaling, as is nerve impulses. Our senses (sensors) gather additional information from our environment.

Is there more? Probably, but we don’t know enough yet.

At what point does a machine become alive? The line in the sand seems to be drawn (arbitrarily) between viruses and bacteria. Why? Because the scientists at the time were asked that very question, and the group agreed to place it there.