system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is there a theoretical minimum size for a living cell?

I know that mycoplasma and rickettsia are among the smallest cells known, but is there a theoretical size smaller than these below which a cell could never be viable? What is the limiting factor?
gpt
An interesting answer from a physics perspective was given by Schrodinger in "What is Life." He begins by asking why atoms are so small, by which he means why are organisms so large compared to atoms. The answer he gives is that life requires "exact physical laws." If you don't have enough atoms, statistical fluctuations will be too large for life to develop.