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 I agree with JPierre about what she said with "molecules, cells...all working inside to make sure that you as a person or thing function". To me, the key word is function- I see living organisms as having several functions (no matter how basic), such as eating through hunting or scavenging, and reproducing, so to perform these functions the living organism needs to have a system of cells that allow it to go through these behaviors. Whether a plant, the simplest little worm, or a more complex animal, these are living because they need to grow, "eat" (absorb some energy source), and reproduce. No living organism has a static life. While it sounds simple, we all knew as little kids that things started out as babies and eventually became "grownups", and this idea is applicable to anything alive. As Professor Grobstein mentioned in class, a tree starts as a seed and grows into something bigger, just as an animal grows up. They need outside resources to help them do so-the energy source- and also an internal system to make them function. When this system ceases to work, the living thing's life cycle is over. I guess you could argue that a rock or nonliving thing (to me) can change, but it has no internal system, no "plan" in its DNA that causes instincts to push it to find an energy source or reproduce, and it must be changed by something external.