LIFE AS A SELF-REPLICATING SYSTEM WITH BIOELECTRIC ORGANIZATION: TWO CONDITIONS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

This paper proposes a definition of life as a self-replicating system with bioelectric organization. Self-replication by itself is not a sufficient criterion of life: self-copying is observed in non-living systems as well — RNA molecules in vitro and, in the author's broader programme, hypothetical self-replicating dark particles. The missing mark is proposed to be a sustained, actively maintained bioelectric voltage. Relative to the previous version, two defects have been corrected. First, the levels at which the two conditions apply have been separated. The previous formulation demanded both of the same unit, which made a mature neuron, a cardiomyocyte and other non-dividing cells come out as non-living — that is, most cells of a multicellular organism. Self-replication is a property of the lineage; bioelectric organization is a property of each living unit. Second, the criterion for dormant forms has been reformulated. The previous retreat to a "preserved capacity to maintain voltage" deprived the definition of measurability, since such a capacity cannot be checked except by reviving the organism, reducing the criterion to "the living is that which revives". In the present version the criterion is structural: integrity of the membrane capable of holding an ion gradient, of the ion pumps, of the ATP-synthesis machinery and of the genome. These structures are inspectable by direct methods and distinguish a dormant spore from a dead one without reviving it. The relation to the self-replication programme is stated explicitly: the shared logistic growth dynamics and the definition of life do not conflict but give the programme an internal boundary — what replicates need not be alive. A limitation is also named: all known forms of life share a common origin, so the universality of the bioelectric marker may reflect ancestry rather than necessity.