Assembly theory Notion
All objects are characterized by two numbers, 'Assembly index' and 'Copy Number', where a higher assembly index and a larger copy number indicate a complex structure that could not have naturally emerged by chance.
Life is not binary (alive/dead) but a continuous spectrum measured by 'the difference in complexity between input and output', and systems with high assembly indices, like artificial intelligence, can also have 'life-like' characteristics according to this definition.
Life as a physical process - Inverted Passion
It’s always hard to define life. Everyone has their favorite definition – some describe it as a struggle against entropy, while others describe it as an emergent property of chemicals. Countless books have been written on the topic, yet we’re far from a consensus. Against the backdrop of the second law of thermodynamics, life seems… Read More
https://invertedpassion.com/life-as-a-physical-process/

Assembly theory
Assembly theory is a framework developed to quantify the complexity of molecules and objects by assessing the minimal number of steps required to assemble them from fundamental building blocks. Proposed by chemist Lee Cronin and his team, the theory assigns an assembly index to molecules, which serves as a measurable indicator of their structural complexity. Cronin and colleagues argue that this approach allows for experimental verification and has applications in understanding selection processes, evolution, and the identification of biosignatures in astrobiology. However, the usefulness of the approach has been disputed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_theory

Seonglae Cho
