A very widely debated scientific dilemma that has been going on for years is whether or not viruses are alive. Although viruses do have a few characteristics of life, they do not have all of them, and they especially don’t have the most important ones. Throughout the case study there were great arguments for either side, and although it was a tough decision, I do not believe that viruses are alive. Viruses cannot metabolize energy and they are not made up of cells. One characteristic of life is energy processing, which is the need of living organisms to use energy in order to maintain order and carry out other characteristics of life. Since viruses can’t metabolize energy, then they would have trouble carrying out other characteristics of life.
