Virus and us
Viruses are fascinating. They are neither alive nor dead. They are simply floating pieces of genetic material with one purpose: to make copies of themselves. To replicate. To reproduce.
Everything we interact with on a computer, is a set of instructions, called software/ code. By itself, they are just bits and bytes. They are electrical/ optical/ mechanical states of matter that give it a sense of persistence. One could as well have written the instructions on a piece of paper using a pen. The thing about software code, is that it is innocuous by itself. As useless as the words written on a piece of paper. But all that changes as soon as the code meets an execution environment, say, a computer. A virus, as I am given to understand, is like a software code on an SD card. A physical set of instructions recorded in protein structures. But of no relevance by itself. Until it meets a ‘living’ host that could activate a fascinating chain of actions.
Consider this as the equivalent of an SD card being inserted into a computer’s SD card slot and getting auto executed (note: ‘executed’ is techspeak for setting in motion and doing what it was supposed to)! Or, the more likely cyber-variant, getting downloaded from some dubious website while one was just browsing, and getting activated on one’s system. Now you know why they call malicious code, a computer virus and not a computer bacterium or a computer fungus (Besides sounding way cooler).
So, the virus has to reach a living host, without which it is pretty much a miniscule dust particle. Unlike our SD card which is designed to keep the bits and bytes intact for a long time even in the absence of a host, the virus has a very weak enclosure that does not last much long in our harsh environment. Soaps and some chemicals break it down, UV light and heat also do the same thing. It then pretty much spills it’s delicately held payload as debris and becomes truly dead. Probably the same as having our earthly SD card being dropped on the surface of Mars. The SD card (and the code/ program/ content) would be unlikely to survive for long in that environment.
Its genetic design has an ever-evolving code that learns and optimizes (mutates) to defeat the defenses that would be put up by the much slower evolving hosts' dedicated fighter cells. Therefore, once inside, they may mutate. In any case, they use the hosts ready-made energy sources for fulfilling the only purpose they have. To reproduce.
The virus has no body parts, and it definitely has neither the intent nor the need to have a brain. Therefore by extension, it has no morals, no pain, no emotions, no thought, no religion, no second chances and no remorse. It just keeps doing its thing until it no longer can. Then it fades into oblivion. It is interesting because one possible scenario could have been: some sort of a symbiotic balance inside the host’s body so that both the host and the virus survived. This is what seems to be the strategy employed by bacteria. Some of them have actually become essential for the hosts survival (the bacteria in our gut for instance). The virus seems to have no code designed for compromises. Its genetic strategy is to give a damn about its host.
The virus and its mutation are a clear and present proof of evolution. Also, interestingly, the virus is notable by its absence from all ancient religious texts. The story of creation from the Bible for instance, does not mention either the virus or the bacteria or fungi for that matter. Simply because the humans who wrote them back then, had no idea that some of these microorganisms even existed (because they were microscopic and effectively invisible, duh). Well, by strict definition, a virus is classified ‘non-living’ apparently.
Aside: Don’t get me wrong here. I believe in evolution, because like anything in science, it can be observed and replicated. While it still remains speculative and extrapolatory to pin all of us down to an ancient single cell (since we can no longer observe this in its entirety), I am willing to assume that this extrapolation to the past is plausible. It still leads me to think that there must have been a set of one in a gazillion conditions to have favored the formation of the first genetic chain. Then for me, that set of chances was an expression of the supernatural. Of God.
I do believe that there must be a ‘creator’ for all this code around us that we call life. Including the code for the virus. Even if we attribute all this beauty to sheer chance and randomness, there would have been a force that preferred some semblance of predictable patterns even among the chaos and entropy.
That said, there is so much unpredictability for our puny human minds even in the simplest of things that we take for granted: like our next breath. I call, marvel at and worship this undeniable, indescribable force as God.
Religions have been imperfect institutionalizations of ancient human attempts at trying to comprehend God. Therefore, most are based on texts that at best capture limited human experiences and descriptions of this grandeur based on their ancient contexts. They have also been used as instruments to control and propel groups of human beings in one direction or the other. Like it or not, our minds are genetically tuned for these higher order things (being identified as a part of a collective, history, stories and rules) to eventually achieve low order objectives that are pretty similar to the virus! The religious texts therefore are certainly divinely inspired but they are neither literal prescriptions nor an end by themselves. For me, they are great attempts at using the very limited human vocabulary to fathom what remains unfathomable for us.
The genetic code in every being that has one, is ultimately biased towards its survival. For beings with limited lifespan, the bias is towards reproduction. How could one spawn a genetic copy (release an updated version, if you may), that fixes a few bugs of the past set of genes and introduces a few new ones of its own. We humans go through an elaborate set of rituals that requires two very different but similar beings, the male and the female, the act of copulation, the magic of the egg and the sperm becoming a mini-being through gestation, a painful delivery from a protective embryonic sac to the big bad world outside. Nourishment, learning, growth. Then rinse and repeat. Then decay.
At the very essence, what truly survives over ages, through all these cycles; is not our bags of flesh and bones. Over a long enough period of time, not even the things we build may survive, neither will our intellectual creations. What will likely survive ages and ages hence, would be some flavour of our genetic codes. A small part of us. Unlike the virus which does not have the brain to 'care for' what happens ages hence, like we do, we have uniquely evolved to use the faculties of thought and creativity to help with our survival and to think for what happens ages hence.
That’s why we have vaccines. They are tools created by us (and by extension, for believers: God who created us with the ability to invent these things. Being vaccinated is therefore, imho, an ultimate act of worship. It is an acknowledgement of God and his wonderful creation.). Vaccines represent a fight put up by our genetic code against the genetic code of the viruses. Both are kind of locked into a long-term battle with each other, with annihilation of one being as plausible an outcome as survival.
2019 to 2022 was literally a world war between the covid virus and humanity. It literally stopped the world as we knew it, in its tracks! Interestingly, it took a microscopic common enemy to unite us humans, despite all our differences. Sadly, many indicators point to that virus having been at least partly engineered by us for whatever end reasons (research/ bio-weapons etc.). The origin stories have been speculative and have been disputed, so I would not be able to conclude anything for sure as of now. Irrespective, the fact remains that this tiny piece of genetic doodle, did manage to terrorize us all.
I am not getting into the debate of whether all the pharmaceutical companies are doing a fair job with the act of selling these, or instances where folks have cut corners in research/ validation to push dangerous/sub optimal vaccines. These are crimes and must be investigated and dealt with under the rule of law. I am only stating that vaccines done right have saved millions of lives and will continue to do so. Net-net, we have a longer average lifespan and lower mortality rates today than we had a hundred years ago thanks to all the scientific advances.
As humans, we have admittedly over optimized for our short-term survival compared to long term progress and sustained co-existence. As humans, we do have the ability to fix this as well. But that’s probably thoughts to ponder over another day. This post is dedicated to the viruses and our battles for survival pitted against them!
