Cassius_Corodes t1_irmi8m0 wrote on October 9, 2022 at 12:02 PM

Reply to comment by Algorythmis in What lifeform has the shortest genetic sequence? by teafuck

I personally don't see it much different to eating an animal. You are just taking someone else's energy and materials and using it for your ends. I feel the divide is mostly due to our own bias to somehow see how we get our energy and materials as somehow more worthy.

[deleted] t1_irmj7vm wrote on October 9, 2022 at 12:13 PM

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[deleted] t1_irmjg5a wrote on October 9, 2022 at 12:16 PM

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[deleted] t1_irmoh1c wrote on October 9, 2022 at 1:05 PM

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Rich_Acanthisitta_70 t1_irmvdd3 wrote on October 9, 2022 at 2:03 PM

That's using the environment they're in to reproduce. It's a deliberate function carried out by the virus using its environment.

AedemHonoris t1_irnbnat wrote on October 9, 2022 at 4:01 PM

Deliberately though. When an animal (collection of interworking and specialized eukaryotic cells) eats, it is doing so based on very specific chemical and physical signals. It's not that viruses are worthy, it's that they are aimless and directionless in their "existence". A prokaryote moving towards chemical signals and changing gene expression to consume nutrients to further purposefully divide is not the same a virus that happens to have the right configuration of proteins and genetic information to attach randomly to whatever has the correct antigen to allow for assimilation and replication.