# We Cannot Build Life Because We Cannot Define It by Rodney A. Brooks > “As evidence that we really do not understand what it takes for something to be alive, we have not been able to build machines that are alive.” > **— Rodney A. Brooks**, *2001, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT QUESTIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [What is it that makes something alive?](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/12040) — the official response page preserves this exact, continuous passage and its surrounding argument. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2001 Full Quotation Curation - Disappeared Questions|Edge 2001 Full Quotation Curation - Disappeared Questions]] — retained source-first record for the response object and all canonical reminder links derived from it. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Artificial Life|Artificial Life]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Artificial Life|Artificial Life]] - [[wiki/Digital Evolution|Digital Evolution]] - [[wiki/Technological Evolution|Technological Evolution]] - [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “As evidence that we really do not understand what it takes for something to be alive, we have not been able to build machines that are alive.” — Rodney A. Brooks, 2001, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT QUESTIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-rodney-brooks-cannot-build-machines-alive ```