Being alive: What do I think? I think you are alive as long as you are expending some resources that cannot become beneficial to someone else since you have to consume them. What do I mean by this? If you kill someone and don't report it, they are legally alive, and if they are receiving payments of some kind, and you take it, they aren't alive. They are no longer expending resources that cannot become benefit another person. For obvious reasons, death is the opposite of being alive. Why do I not mention sentience? Even if you are brain dead - you still cost someone money. And if you are being kept alive in a braindead of retarded state, someone obviously believes you are still alive.
Why do I choose such a cold state to define it? Because a lot of people don't know it, but that's their definition. What incentive is there otherwise?
(Yes, I know I haven't quite posted anything in a while. I haven't been taken any time to think about what to blog about, in favour of more important issues like studying and so on. In addition, I've had a bad long bout of writer's block, which is still on right now. Be patient, and things will smooth over.)