Picture from en.wikipedia.org
Well, of course one would most probably answer "in death", life ends when a person dies. But what we are concerned about on this article is when does "life" end before it "begins" during conception or fertilization?
Life begets life. We have not seen a non-living being producing living beings. [Well, the Evolutionists say that life on earth started through the series of chemical reactions among basic elements but still they agree that life was produced by them because they have the inherent capacity to produce life. Anyway since this theory is still under so much scrutiny let us be content first with what is presently observable: LIFE BEGETS LIFE.]
Two of the most observable properties of living things are self-movement and growth. Unless something is alive or has life, it will never move or grow on its own. Equipment and appliances move through mechanical means and they "grow" by the external addition of parts unlike living beings which move on their own unless there is a defect which prohibits such action of course and grow by themselves without any addition of external parts and reach their full size potential in accordance with proper nourishment.
Two of the most observable properties of living things are self-movement and growth. Unless something is alive or has life, it will never move or grow on its own. Equipment and appliances move through mechanical means and they "grow" by the external addition of parts unlike living beings which move on their own unless there is a defect which prohibits such action of course and grow by themselves without any addition of external parts and reach their full size potential in accordance with proper nourishment.
Why are we discussing this? Because there have been so much debate about when human life begins that we forget the basic: life begets life. The sperm or the egg cell on their own may not be a full human being yet but you won't surely call them cells from any other creatures, right? They may not be able to produce a new human life apart from each other but wait, are they not entitled to their own right to survive? If they are so important in the production of life - of human life - why should they not be protected from disintegration? Are we not trying to protect the environment because they are important primarily for human life and secondarily for beautification purpose? Or it is the other way around? Don't we make so much fuss about taking care of the house, of the roads, of so many other things because they are so important for us to have comfortable lives? And yet we forget to take care of the basics of this life that we wish to be in a comfortable environment!
The sperm and the egg cells are living things, if not, they won't be able to produce what we are today. I don't know if someone would argue with this but in case someone does, please just remember what we have stated above: self-movement and growth are two of the observable properties of being alive.
So we repeat the question, when does life end?
Life is continuous cycle of being and dying. Plants produce fruits and seeds which need to be buried into the soil to "die" that they may produce another being of the same species. The sperm is "buried" into the egg cell that it may produce another being of the same species too. Does the sperm experience death when the egg cell engulfs it into its "body"? We may say "yes" but by then we now have the beginning of a new human being which we call the zygote. The sperm and the egg cell cease to be since a new stage in the cycle of life begins: the zygote stage which will develop into blastocyst, embryo, fetus, child, etc until adulthood. See more here.
In all these, there is the observable development through a process which cannot be denied as a "living process" or a true NATURAL LIFE cycle. No external or artificial mediation is necessary for the fulfillment or accomplishment of this cycle. Everything happens in accordance with natural processes that has been intelligently "encoded" in a suprasophisticated genetic code called the DNA which I guess fictionists try to imagine being capable of replication in sophisticated electronic chips which could create "living" mechanical devices or robots just like in the Transformers movie.
The sperm and the egg cells are living things, if not, they won't be able to produce what we are today. I don't know if someone would argue with this but in case someone does, please just remember what we have stated above: self-movement and growth are two of the observable properties of being alive.
So we repeat the question, when does life end?
Life is continuous cycle of being and dying. Plants produce fruits and seeds which need to be buried into the soil to "die" that they may produce another being of the same species. The sperm is "buried" into the egg cell that it may produce another being of the same species too. Does the sperm experience death when the egg cell engulfs it into its "body"? We may say "yes" but by then we now have the beginning of a new human being which we call the zygote. The sperm and the egg cell cease to be since a new stage in the cycle of life begins: the zygote stage which will develop into blastocyst, embryo, fetus, child, etc until adulthood. See more here.
In all these, there is the observable development through a process which cannot be denied as a "living process" or a true NATURAL LIFE cycle. No external or artificial mediation is necessary for the fulfillment or accomplishment of this cycle. Everything happens in accordance with natural processes that has been intelligently "encoded" in a suprasophisticated genetic code called the DNA which I guess fictionists try to imagine being capable of replication in sophisticated electronic chips which could create "living" mechanical devices or robots just like in the Transformers movie.
I don't know if time would come when human intelligence could really duplicate the capacity of the DNA to be replicated by highly sophisticated electronic chips and come up with "living beings" out of machines. But one things is for sure, life does not cease at any process in the natural cycle of life until its natural end in death. The sperm and the egg cells leave the parent bodies as living things with their own inherent life-producing capacity to come up with a new living being.
So the next time one asks when does life begins, whether at conception or at any other stage of the life cycle, try asking them first: when did it end?
So the next time one asks when does life begins, whether at conception or at any other stage of the life cycle, try asking them first: when did it end?
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