[s_kilk]

I was taught that viruses are weird little machines, similar but unrelated to the things we recognise as alive. Interesting that there's difference of opinion on the matter.

Edit: here's a question for the room; if viruses are unrelated to the rest of "life", but are endogenous to the earth, are they alien?

[antonvs]

It's an overstatement to say that viruses are "unrelated to the rest of life". They have RNA or even DNA, which almost certainly makes them related.

If we found a living organism which didn't have RNA or DNA, that would be a good candidate for an alien. It would help if we found it on another planet though.

[s_kilk]

Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense.

[garmaine]

That sounds like vitalism in disguise.

All cells are weird little machines. Viruses are just smaller than normal.

(There are some legitimate reasons to say viruses are not “alive”, but being little machines is not one of them.)