# Life Detection **Domain:** Astrobiology / Recognition / Measurement **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Life detection** is the attempt to identify evidence of living processes through chemical, structural, energetic or informational signatures. ## Evolutionary Nexus Joshua Lederberg's exobiological interests helped frame automated molecular inference as a problem for early AI. [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] uses DENDRAL to connect this question to expert systems. ## Recognition Context Any criterion risks Earth-centered bias. Metabolism, replication and disequilibrium are useful indicators but may not cover every possible life form. The same problem recurs for machine consciousness: unfamiliar implementation should not be treated as disproof, yet novelty alone is not evidence. ## See Also [[wiki/Exobiology|Exobiology]], [[wiki/Recognition Threshold|Recognition Threshold]], [[wiki/Scientific Instrument|Scientific Instrument]], [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]]