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Ok. What's an example of something low but non-zero on the spectrum of life?

I'm having trouble thinking of one that isn't more properly "life-like".

Viruses?

New understandings of mega-viruses have let us to believe that the line is really quite fuzzy. Some of these larger viruses have double stranded DNA, some have ribosome like functions, some have ERs, etc. Kinda like a cell, but missing random parts that make them truly alive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandoravirus

Potentially crystals as well. While we don't typically consider them part of "biology" there are some good arguments for including them as a form of life.

You can also consider a virus a loosely coupled form, which really increases the size of the virus, since it requires its platform to propagate.

All the ingredients of the primordial soup that bacteria grew from - water, methane, carbohydrates.

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