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Guess the whole “roll around in viral soup and lick the elevator buttons” crowd arguing getting sick is healthy as it boosts your immune system is going to have

Guess the whole “roll around in viral soup and lick the elevator buttons” crowd arguing getting sick is healthy as it boosts your immune system is going to have a relatively sad old age. I noticed that plants I grow in a sterile environment are extraordinarily healthy and vigorous vs those in a similar but unsterile environment. I always drew from that the less a life form has to struggle against it’s environment the more energy it can apply to growth and the more “optimal” the growth will be. Add in the DNA level damage a virus can cause (not all viral infections of a cell destroys the cell or successfully encodes fully), and other forms of oh gosh that’s not good, tells me it’s just got a great idea to be infected. So, forgive me, but I plan to wear masks on planes (precovid I got sick on literally every flight over 4 hours - no more!) and during outbreaks of influenza and other nasties. I can train my immune system with vaccines, which don’t actively infect my cells systemically. And the pictures of my thriving plants will be playing in my head the next time some conservative yells at me about natural immunity for wearing a mask.

canadiantim 4y ago
Plants need many stressors to survive. Like wind, a plant grown in a sterile windless environment is guaranteed to be weaker than a plant grown with some wind to convince it to invest energy in stabilizing itself.
- fnordpiglet 4y ago
  Yes that’s true, they were much less woody despite being more lush and bearing larger and sweeter fruit, and I had to provide stability support to some. Note however I didn’t say I wasn’t going to exercise are eat only hydroponic mixtures. A viral infection is not the same as adaptation stress, where the former is well demonstrated and I think conclusively good for you in the long term. So, yes, the metaphor isn’t flawless but the point remains. Some viral infections lead to a long term result of cancer, we think according to these and other research easily googled some severe infections leads to increased risk of long term poor neurological outcomes, and I posit with no proof that viral infection contributes to aging. I’ll wager an outcome of COVID will be a bulge in viral infection long term effects, and I’ll further put $5 on my statements above.

canadiantim 4y ago

Plants need many stressors to survive. Like wind, a plant grown in a sterile windless environment is guaranteed to be weaker than a plant grown with some wind to convince it to invest energy in stabilizing itself.

fnordpiglet 4y ago
Yes that’s true, they were much less woody despite being more lush and bearing larger and sweeter fruit, and I had to provide stability support to some. Note however I didn’t say I wasn’t going to exercise are eat only hydroponic mixtures. A viral infection is not the same as adaptation stress, where the former is well demonstrated and I think conclusively good for you in the long term. So, yes, the metaphor isn’t flawless but the point remains. Some viral infections lead to a long term result of cancer, we think according to these and other research easily googled some severe infections leads to increased risk of long term poor neurological outcomes, and I posit with no proof that viral infection contributes to aging. I’ll wager an outcome of COVID will be a bulge in viral infection long term effects, and I’ll further put $5 on my statements above.