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Is Fire Alive? (A Debate)
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Author:  Spools [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:20 am ]
Post subject:  Is Fire Alive? (A Debate)

Do you think fire is a living entity or a non-living phenomenon?

Vote and give your opinion.

Author:  Vass [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:32 am ]
Post subject: 

Fire is most certainly alive, as many military people and gun users will tell you. They regularly go on about how people should act as if it's a life fire incident whenever they're around guns.

Author:  krylex [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:12 am ]
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Its just a chemical reaction to me.

Author:  Reason [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:53 am ]
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It's just a chemical reaction to everyone. Some people are just uneducated.

Author:  onion [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:57 am ]
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Startling comparions between living beings and fire: they both grow, they both suck in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, they both move, they both feed on other sources to gain energy in order to grow and on and on and on.

Fire does all of the things a living thing can do save think and converse. So I guess the answer to the question comes down to how you define being alive.

Reason wrote:
Some people are just uneducated.


Some people don't recognise a philosophical debate on the nature of life and it's definitions when they see it so am I to suppose you're one of the uneducated people you're talking about?

Author:  Rusty [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:56 am ]
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Fire doesn't pee all over furniture whilst drunk.

I feel this in itself is a definiting characteristic of whether or not it's alive. XD

Author:  Reason [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:11 am ]
Post subject: 

What's philsophical about fire? It burns. I'm uneducated in the sense that I couldn't give a rats ass as to whether someone I don't know on the intertron considers a chemical reaction involving heat and carbon the fuction of a living being.

Well fuck. Are volcanos alive? They spew out stuff like humans do when they get sick! And gasses! Volcanos emit gas! Just like us!

What about clouds? They're composed mostly of water, just like us! And they're affected by the wind! I feel the wind, I dunno about you. So I guess they could be alive.

If you're going to judge whether something is alive because it has simmilarities(wish I could spell worth a damn) to actual living things then I guess my Tamogachi keychain is alive too.

Author:  onion [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:57 pm ]
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What's philosphical about fire?

Everything. That's kind of the point in philosophy.

Author:  Reason [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:06 pm ]
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Meh, seems less like philosophy and more like "picking on the new guy." The comment I made was in jest, because I frankly think the concept of people debating whether fire lives is laughable.

The irony here is I was drawn in...

Anyway, you seem to have it out for me Onion, this is the third time since I've started posting you've tried to make me look like an idiot.

Author:  Kest [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:31 pm ]
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Not you especially, she acts bitter in general.

Author:  Ancient [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:36 pm ]
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Right then, steering clear of the arguement above me, I don't consider fire alive. It does feed, and it does have movement, but living things also have the requirement of the ability to reproduce at some point. Fire spreads, but it's still the same fire. Hmm, kinda makes me wonder if humans ever created artificial beings, if it would count as life? They don't have to be sentient, they just have to find a way of reproduction, maybe constructing others of themselves from raw material? Consumption and the possibility of reproduction are my two peresiquites for life.

Much love.

Author:  Kest [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:55 pm ]
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On topic, it might be appropriate to regard fire as having a viral nature. If you believe viruses to be living things, then the same could be true for fire.

Author:  Ancient [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:02 pm ]
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Even if you consider viruses to be alive, it wouldn't neccessarily equate into fire being alive. Viruses make copies of themselves, which while being exactly alike to the parent virus, are still a seperate entity. Plus, viruses have the ability to mutate or evolve. Fire will always be fire.

Much love

Author:  onion [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:03 pm ]
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Reason wrote:
Meh, seems less like philosophy and more like "picking on the new guy." The comment I made was in jest, because I frankly think the concept of people debating whether fire lives is laughable.

The irony here is I was drawn in...

Anyway, you seem to have it out for me Onion, this is the third time since I've started posting you've tried to make me look like an idiot.


No it's really not. It's debate club. I was debating your points. And evertone elses is. It's not a laughable discussion, it's one that has a basis in philosophy and one in science depending on the definition of human life used in scientific communities. If you don't want someone to argue with you don't post in a debate thread. Seriously. If I had some sort of massive problem with you I would let you know. There would me memes. I like memes.

And Kest, you may think I'm bitter. I just think I'm honest. Why don't we leave the character assasination for unrelated where it belongs and thrives as strong as it ever was.

Ancient, fire can be many forms of fire - flash fire, gas fire, oil fire, electrical fire etc etc. Each has seperate characteristics and specific measure which must be taken to eradicate them. True it always a fire but no matter how it evolves a virus in whatever form it has now taken is still a virus too.

Author:  Sair [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:48 pm ]
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Ancient wrote:
Plus, viruses have the ability to mutate or evolve. Fire will always be fire.


This is because fire is just that well adapted.

Author:  Kest [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:51 pm ]
Post subject: 

Ancient wrote:
Viruses make copies of themselves, which while being exactly alike to the parent virus, are still a seperate entity.

Was thinking that because both reproduce by consuming something.

Author:  Ancient [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:00 pm ]
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Fire doesn't exactly reproduce, it just grows bigger. Think of it as you eating alot of food and getting fatter. Does that mean that your reproduced more of your stomach because you ate food? No, it means you increased your previous size because of the food you ate.

Much love

Author:  Reason [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:25 pm ]
Post subject: 

onion wrote:
No it's really not. It's debate club. I was debating your points. And evertone elses is. It's not a laughable discussion, it's one that has a basis in philosophy and one in science depending on the definition of human life used in scientific communities. If you don't want someone to argue with you don't post in a debate thread. Seriously. If I had some sort of massive problem with you I would let you know. There would me memes. I like memes.



...It's taking me five minutes to do it, but I admit that you have a point. A good one.

I doff my hat to you.

Author:  Rusty [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:00 pm ]
Post subject: 

Technically, it could be said all things are simply chemical processes and that in the end we're no different from dust a billion AU away.

However, it could also be said fire does not have the ability to keep itself to off of some objects and directly onto some. Actual life posesses that, even if at a rudimentary level (E.G.: Worms exiting soil for specific reasons, plants moving directly to catch optimal sun, etc). With this sort of world view, fire is not alive.

It is only when we begin to attribute human qualities to it that it becomes alive. This is fallacious.

Author:  Vass [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:36 pm ]
Post subject: 

Rusty wrote:
It is only when we begin to attribute human qualities to it that it becomes alive. This is fallacious.

So is something alive if it can attribute its own qualities onto another object?

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