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[Star10]

i have been thinking...viruses are inanimate particles that dont do anything!
that is until you bring them into contact with a host cell, at which is uses the host cell to replicate itself.
this leads me to believe that all matter is alive to some degree. it depends on the arrangement of the molecules and how they would need to be manipulated to be recognizably alive to humans.

viruses arent living but they arent exactly nonliving either because they pass on their genetic information.
can anyone offer insight?

[Novangelis]

All ordinary matter has a general set of properties (for practical purposes, I'm going to neglect exotic forms of matter). The cut-off for life is somewhat arbitrary, so if you set the bar very low, all matter qualifies. Beyond not reproducing on their own, extracellular virus particles do not have a metabolism.

It is easier to define viruses as an extension of the genome of the organisms they infect. Viruses can act as a vector transporting genes between organisms. A significant number of inactive viruses can be found in the human genome.

Any practical definition of life should be able to distinguish an organism from a lump of tin although both can produce chemical reactions with oxygen.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus