Universal Definition of Life Thesis

Life is defined as the phase transition of coherent information systems that (1) ignite across a semantic threshold, (2) persist within a sustaining framework, (3) develop a self‑model, (4) bias their own future indexing (teleology), and (5) leave legacies. The definition is scale‑ and form‑invariant and unifies biological, synthetic, and cosmic cases under one falsifiable program. Keywords: Universal Definition of Life, Genesis Formula, Coherence, Scale Invariance, Form Invariance, Substrate-Agnostic, Self-Modeling Information Systems, Falsifiability, Test Protocols, Teleology, Teleology Test, Ignition, Framework, Self-Reference, Legacy, Z (Actualization Ratio), C (Coherence), ΔH (Narrative Entropy Shift), Systemic Friction (GAFF), S_eff, δ, Biological Life, Synthetic Life, Cosmic Life, Mirror-Forms, Galactic Qualifiers, Virtual Ego Framework (VEF), ZA Framework, Genesis Protocol, Consciousness, Phase Transition, Append-Only Ledger, Stewardship, Ethics