2 ms·
> There are over 200 distinct viruses that cause the illness we call "a cold." Probably far, far more than that if you count the inevitable mutations that occu
by spookthesunset 4y ago
> There are over 200 distinct viruses that cause the illness we call "a cold."
Probably far, far more than that if you count the inevitable mutations that occur during replication.
- echelon 4y agoIt's a feature of how our language, labeling systems, and brains can only grapple with so many things. We rarely need to be so precise. There are millions of human cells in your body right now that don't share "your" DNA [1] due to mutation or specialization (somatic recombination, Barr bodies, etc.) We've known this since trying to apply species categories. [1] "your" DNA becomes a population average sometime after fertilization.
- MichaelCollins 4y agoDiscrete classification of continuous phenomena is always going to be messy. Humans create discrete categories because they are useful to humans, but it's always important to remember the map is not the terrain.