What is life?

Life is anything that grows and Dies, but the thought that hair and nails grow after death is a Myth, it when the skin recedes after drying out that it appears to grow, sorry it just don't happen.

You have simplified what might qualify too much..

Reproduction:

Mules are still the result of sexual reproduction, and are NOT found in nature. They are a product of human intervention.

Eunuchs were once capable of breeding, and are NOT found in nature. They are a product of human intervention.

Women after menopause add very favourably to the chances of aiding the success of their grandchildren, and this is an evolutionary result. They were also once fertile..

You CANNOT program a robot to FEEL pain.

The ability to grow also covers crystals which are not life.

Metabolizing food is part of the food chain, cars are not.

Learning doesn't necessarily cover bacteria or viruses which are also alive..

Why must life be summed up with just one qualification..??

Life is really about reproduction and genetic inheritence through biological mechanisms in order to perpetuate a species. There are many branches to life.

What of the bacteria in your gut? It is unrelated to the human genome, and contains NO human DNA. Do you suggest this DOESN'T have a soul, even though it is crucial to human existance?

"IF" there is such a thing as a soul, then ALL life must have it too. The pedistal that religions put humans on is a ficticious and self serving one.

Of course the other option is that the concept of a soul is a farce, which makes much more sense..

Life is a transitionary phase between nothingness and the eternal life. An assessment period.

Anyone who feels happiness, grief, pain is alive.

Soul is something which can differentiate between vice and virtue. Every human being of any religion or even atheist feels happiness by good deeds. Bad deeds always make a soul agitated.

Life is not a destination but a path which points towards the eternal destination.

Your asking a religious question but are providing a philosophical answer. I took a class on philosophy and I completely agree with everything you said in the philosophical sense, but religiously that makes absolutly no sense at all. Here is my simple answer that everyone can be satisfied with

Life is what you make it

Life is a particularly long and complex chemical reaction.

The opposite of death.

What a brilliant question.

To be alive you have to be able to breathe. If you are able to breathe then you must be 'alive.'

(I love the way you put it to us... brilliant. )

Anything with the life force in it.

What isn't life?

Oh, and to answer your question, life requires consciousness. No consciousness, no life.

It is living without life you are dead.