PLASMA AS INORGANIC LIVING MATTER: A SUBSTRATE-INDEPENDENT FRAMEWORK

This paper advances the hypothesis that stellar plasma constitutes a candidate form of inorganic living matter when evaluated against a substrate-independent framework for life derived from first principles. The central epistemological argument is that every existing mainstream definition of life is contingently derived from a single biological data point — terrestrial carbon-based life — and therefore cannot legitimately function as a universal criterion. Building from this critique, five substrate-independent criteria for life are formalised using dynamical systems theory, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, Lyapunov stability analysis, Helmholtz decomposition, and information-theoretic transfer entropy. Each criterion is stated as a precise mathematical condition, connected to the organisational feature of living systems it captures, and assessed against the known physics of stellar plasma. The five criteria are formulated as jointly necessary for a physical system to qualify as living. They are not asserted as sufficient. A sufficiency claim is presented only as a testable conjecture. The application to plasma therefore demonstrates compliance with necessary conditions, while the broader question of sufficiency remains open and outside the scope of the results. Empirical support is drawn from Parker Solar Probe observational data, nucleosynthetic inheritance transmitted through stellar supernovae, and laboratory complex plasma experiments. A formal conjecture of joint sufficiency is stated. The framework is situated relative to Assembly Theory through a derived formal bridge between assembly index and transfer entropy. A continuum model of life is proposed, including resolution of the individuation problem through nested temporal scales. Falsifiable predictions are derived and the primary empirical gap identified.