3 ms·

> Virus wants its host to be alive and well A virus doesn't want anything. It just exists and, if the environment is amenable, reproduces with mutations.

robomartin 5y ago
I don't understand the downvotes. My comment is in response to a 100% scientifically false statement. It's like saying that heat flows from cold to hot. Saying that viruses "want" is as false as that, if not worse. The correction I posted is 100% scientifically correct, does not personally attack anyone and isn't even pedantic. Are we in favor of misinformation now? To be fair, articles like this one [0], don't help when they get loose with language and say things like "SARS-CoV-2 is one smart virus". Ironic, when the site's tagline includes the term "academic rigor". At one point in the article they say: "Of course, viruses and bacteria don’t have brains so they don’t “think,” per se. But like all life forms, these particular living creatures are trying to maximize their chances of reproducing and having their offspring survive and reproduce." That starts out well. The first sentence is accurate. The second sentence is false as can be. A sad failure for a publication that claims to have "academic rigor". Viruses don't "try" --which implies a directed objective, thought, intent, goals-- to do anything. Evolution is brutally simple and ridiculously stupid. It has no intent. It has no objectives. I doesn't say "let's make an eye" for a million years until done. It just happens. I know this is hard for some to understand, yet this is the truth. I can understand how people who have not studied and understood the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection can develop false ideas about how it works, particularly when exposed to material, such as this article, that mix false statements with accurate information. That second word, understood, is important. Every high school student learns about evolution. I don't think I can say most of them understand it. SARS-CoV-2 is as smart as a key with 30,000 teeth. Evolution is a process with stochastic mutation that cuts the teeth in different configurations. If a given configuration happens to be effective at penetrating human defenses and do damage, it can be serious. Other configurations could penetrate and have little to mild effects (this, so far, appears to be the case with Omicron). And yet others could be completely ineffective. The mutation isn't directed, it's stochastic. Above all, I think rigor is important because, without it, crazy ideas like "intelligent design" can find footholds that can be used or further distorted to support them. [0] https://theconversation.com/think-like-a-virus-to-understand-why-the-pandemic-isnt-over-yet-and-what-the-us-needs-to-do-to-help-other-countries-161400 https://theconversation.com/think-like-a-virus-to-understand...

robomartin 5y ago

I don't understand the downvotes. My comment is in response to a 100% scientifically false statement. It's like saying that heat flows from cold to hot. Saying that viruses "want" is as false as that, if not worse. The correction I posted is 100% scientifically correct, does not personally attack anyone and isn't even pedantic. Are we in favor of misinformation now? To be fair, articles like this one [0], don't help when they get loose with language and say things like "SARS-CoV-2 is one smart virus". Ironic, when the site's tagline includes the term "academic rigor". At one point in the article they say: "Of course, viruses and bacteria don’t have brains so they don’t “think,” per se. But like all life forms, these particular living creatures are trying to maximize their chances of reproducing and having their offspring survive and reproduce." That starts out well. The first sentence is accurate. The second sentence is false as can be. A sad failure for a publication that claims to have "academic rigor". Viruses don't "try" --which implies a directed objective, thought, intent, goals-- to do anything. Evolution is brutally simple and ridiculously stupid. It has no intent. It has no objectives. I doesn't say "let's make an eye" for a million years until done. It just happens. I know this is hard for some to understand, yet this is the truth. I can understand how people who have not studied and understood the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection can develop false ideas about how it works, particularly when exposed to material, such as this article, that mix false statements with accurate information. That second word, understood, is important. Every high school student learns about evolution. I don't think I can say most of them understand it. SARS-CoV-2 is as smart as a key with 30,000 teeth. Evolution is a process with stochastic mutation that cuts the teeth in different configurations. If a given configuration happens to be effective at penetrating human defenses and do damage, it can be serious. Other configurations could penetrate and have little to mild effects (this, so far, appears to be the case with Omicron). And yet others could be completely ineffective. The mutation isn't directed, it's stochastic. Above all, I think rigor is important because, without it, crazy ideas like "intelligent design" can find footholds that can be used or further distorted to support them. [0] https://theconversation.com/think-like-a-virus-to-understand-why-the-pandemic-isnt-over-yet-and-what-the-us-needs-to-do-to-help-other-countries-161400 https://theconversation.com/think-like-a-virus-to-understand...