Ah, an academic from my side of the aisle. I knew I liked you, I just could never pinpoint why.
It's also much magnetic personality, maybe the fact I am a major fan of Christianity?
And here we get to the meat of it. Why? What is it that causes them to do so?
The chemistry of lipids and hydrodynamics would answer that. I know next to nothing about those, though.
Why would they want to do that?
They don't want to do anything, they are chemicals. They follow chemical laws and such. Why does water freeze?
Yes, but do you? Do you have life? What does that mean?
I say you have both, or, the question makes no sense. (NO, I am NOT a postmodernist)
Interesting thought. As you might guess, I would vehemently disagree. But why do you say so?
One sign of a possible cultural construct is that the definition itself is abstract and there are no boundaries.
This sound more of philosophy than science. Aren't we supposed to defer to science exclusively? tongue in cheek, by the way.
Ha! It's basic social theory, in my opinion.
I might offer this. Let's assume that all the explanations that have been offered, and will be offered, are correct. One still can't get around the idea that life is more than chemical reactions. The stuff of life is much more than synapses firing. Even at the smallest scale.
Life is "simply", in a physical sense, "merely" chemical. I look at it this way, it's like chocolate chip cookies. They are also "merely" the sum of their ingredients. Knowing the recipe does not spoil the taste, does it?