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> And people that who actually work with viruses consider them alive. I know of two people that work with them (create vaccines) that don't consider them alive
by zchristensen7 7y ago
> And people that who actually work with viruses consider them alive.
I know of two people that work with them (create vaccines) that don't consider them alive. I've honestly never heard anyone else that I know working with them talk about considering them alive or not. Not sure why you'd make such a blanket statement unless you are a virologist.
- mncharity 7y agoCurious. In this context, I hang out mostly with marine microbiologists. I do go to talks more broadly, but more research biology than medical. Aside from common use of "dead", the question has only come up twice-ish in many years, and both times it the group discussion was unanimous. Actually, it also came up in a talk earlier this year, again environmental microbiology, around a taxonomy of selective pressures? I fuzzily recall they chose a predicate of "capable of adaptive co-evolution". As you say, it rarely comes up, but I'm sensitized to the topic, and I've not previously seen suggestion of an alternate population of thought. Thanks! I wonder if it varies by field? And yes, even if I was a virologist, a blanket statement, especially in a sample-poor context, is just inviting failure by not being true for some unfamiliar subfield or culture.