Submitted by teafuck t3_xz4njj in askscience
AbitTooLargeHobbit t1_irlumtw wrote
Reply to comment by Shadpool in What lifeform has the shortest genetic sequence? by teafuck
>I refer to viruses as life, as they’re constantly changing, evolving, mutating, and adapting. You don’t find that in non-living things.
That is an interesting definition, but the viruses use the host body for the changing via mutation due to errors in the replications. to me it sounds like books being trascribed differently each time.
Shadpool t1_irlvqjs wrote
That’s just environmental adaptation. The only difference is that as humans, our environment isn’t alive. O2, CO2, H20, and Dollar Generals. Viruses, however, are under constant attack from our immune systems in environments that are inherently hostile, and need to replicate and adapt faster. In fact, given the speed at which outside influences can be thrown at the viruses, and the rate at which a virus can achieve biological perfection, unkillable and lethal to every human it encounters, I’d say viruses were the ideal life form, if it weren’t for the pesky “I just killed my environment, and now I’m gonna die” thing.
RecyQueen t1_irm0fbh wrote
The pesky problem of viruses killing their hosts is why you often see the tradeoff of lower virulence for higher transmissibility.
AbitTooLargeHobbit t1_irlyiny wrote
> if it weren’t for the pesky “I just killed my environment, and now I’m gonna die” thing.
lol, a pretty big problem in environment exploitation... it connects to the original Matrix definition of humans by agent Smith.
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