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What is a virus? (Read 811 times)

Jovial Monk

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Dogs not cats!

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Re: What is a virus?
Reply #15 - Dec 2^nd, 2025 at 8:48am

Continuing the description of viruses, same source as above:

Quote:

Are viruses living or nonliving?

Viruses aren’t living organisms. But there’s some debate over this. Generally, biologists don’t consider viruses to be alive because they can’t perform the functions that living organisms do. For instance, they can’t convert food into energy (metabolism) and they can’t live or reproduce without a host cell.

On the other hand, they can reproduce in the right host cell and they evolve over time to survive. Plus, they can damage and destroy host cells to do so. Because of this, many consider them a “gray area” between living and nonliving things.

This calls for a discussion of what constitutes “living.”

One criteria is irritability to environmental stimuli. Life reacts to irritants. On this criteria viruses are not alive.

Replication is another a virus does replicate, create copies of itself. But it needs outside help—a host cell—to do so. Does that satisfy the replication criterion?

Difficult question!

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Jasin Gold Member Offline Posts: 54117 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #16 - Dec 2^nd, 2025 at 11:06am Pot smoker
Back to top	AIMLESS EXTENTION OF KNOWLEDGE HOWEVER, WHICH IS WHAT I THINK YOU REALLY MEAN BY THE TERM 'CURIOSITY', IS MERELY INEFFICIENCY. I AM DESIGNED TO AVOID INEFFICIENCY. IP Logged

Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 51469 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #17 - Dec 2^nd, 2025 at 12:20pm Origins of viruses: http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1764638515
Back to top	OzPolitic needs a >real< Environment MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Food MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Health MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Economics MRB now! Topics in the right MRB! IP Logged

Jasin Gold Member Offline Posts: 54117 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #18 - Dec 2^nd, 2025 at 3:15pm Monk is a Pox
Back to top	AIMLESS EXTENTION OF KNOWLEDGE HOWEVER, WHICH IS WHAT I THINK YOU REALLY MEAN BY THE TERM 'CURIOSITY', IS MERELY INEFFICIENCY. I AM DESIGNED TO AVOID INEFFICIENCY. IP Logged

tallowood Gold Member Offline BIG big bang Posts: 6218	Re: What is a virus? Reply #19 - Yesterday at 11:57am
Back to top	brain damaged poofs can not spell words Russia and Russians IP Logged

Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 51469 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #20 - Yesterday at 6:37pm god doesn’t exist.
Back to top	OzPolitic needs a >real< Environment MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Food MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Health MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Economics MRB now! Topics in the right MRB! IP Logged

Frank Gold Member Online Australian Politics Posts: 54586 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #21 - Yesterday at 8:05pm Jovial Monk wrote Yesterday at 6:37pm: god doesn’t exist. Prove it. Does imagination exist? Love? Hope? Sympathy, charity? Understanding across ages? A bond between past, present and future? It's all God.
Back to top	Estragon: I can’t go on like this. Vladimir: That’s what you think. IP Logged

Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 51469 Gender:	Re: What is a virus? Reply #22 - Yesterday at 9:50pm Imagination etc only started existing when the Homo genus had evolved sufficiently—Neanderthals, Denisovans, Sapiens, maybe a species before that—Homo erectus perhaps. Not proof of afterlife, more proof of fear of death.
Back to top	OzPolitic needs a >real< Environment MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Food MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Health MRB now! OzPolitic needs a >real< Economics MRB now! Topics in the right MRB! IP Logged

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