Is an Unfertilized Egg also a Living Cell? Andy Schueler Chokes

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Is an unfertilized egg also a living cell? In reality it is more of a formed element akin to red blood cells. Unfertilized eggs do NOT reproduce and reproduction is key to being a living cell. Unfertilized eggs only have 1/2 of the chromosomes as the other cells in the body.

The point? My loser buddy Andy Schueler sez that:

There is no transition of "non-life" => "life" in human development, it is a continuous cycle, and the unfertilized egg is just as much a) "alive" as the fertilized one and also just as much b) a "human cell" as the fertilized one. 

If an unfertilized egg doesn't reproduce then obviously it cannot be just as much alive as the fertilized one that does reproduce. It is even doubtful that an unfertilized egg is a cell given the fact that it doesn't reproduce and has only 1/2 the chromosomes as the cells.

Andy Schueler is allegedly a biologist...