This article presents a critical–propositional confrontation between Yaniv Riz’s preprint Informational Life: A Physical Definition of Life Beyond Biology and the Theory of Objectivity (TO). Its central aim is to examine Riz’s proposal that life should be defined physically and informationally—rather than primarily biologically—as the active preservation of a system’s own structural information against entropic dissolution through energy consumption and entropy export. The study argues that Riz’s framework offers an important classificatory and heuristic contribution by weakening the rigid divide between nonlife and life, expanding the conceptual space of life beyond standard terrestrial biology, and proposing a continuity between informational self-maintenance, consciousness, self-consciousness, empathy, and morality. At the same time, the article evaluates this proposal in light of the modal discipline of the Theory of Objectivity, highlighting both strong compatibilities and decisive tensions. On the side of compatibility, the article emphasizes the convergence between Riz’s account and core TO themes such as singularity, boundary, relational constitution, continuity across levels of organization, and the possibility of understanding life as an intensified regime of objective informational preservation. On the side of tension, it argues that Riz’s framework does not yet fully address the deeper ontological requirements demanded by TO, especially regarding Nothingness as a primitive and eternal mathematical essence, infinity as the non-element required for the logical definition of the universe, and the necessity of a substance transcendent to the quantum. The article further develops the dialogue by articulating the analyzed preprint with the foundational bibliography of TO, its recent modal and testability-oriented developments, and a broader bibliography in philosophy of science, thermodynamics, self-organization, autopoiesis, and informational approaches to life. It concludes that Riz offers a promising physics of informational life, while the Theory of Objectivity requires a more comprehensive modal ontology capable of integrating life, consciousness, and cosmos within a single logical–cosmogonic framework. Note: This analytical article benefited from the analytical support of ChatGPT. KeywordsTheory of Objectivity; Informational Life; Yaniv Riz; Modal Ontology; Philosophy of Biology; Abiogenesis; Consciousness; Self-Consciousness; Thermodynamics; Structural Information; Inductive Effects; Cosmology; Autopoiesis; Artificial Life; Philosophy of Science
Cabannas et al. (Wed,) studied this question.