The scope and the devastation of the pandemic reflect bad luck, yes, and a dangerous world, yes, but also catastrophic failures of human foresight, communal will and leadership.<\/p>\n
But look past that record of human failures for a moment, and consider this whole event from the point of view of the virus. Measure it by the cold logic of evolution: The career of SARS-CoV-2 so far is, in Darwinian terms, a great success story.<\/p>\n
This now-notorious coronavirus was once an inconspicuous creature, lurking quietly in its natural host: some population of animals, possibly bats, in the caves and remnant forests of southern China. The existence of such a living hide-out also known as a reservoir host is logically necessary when any new virus appears suddenly as a human infection.<\/p>\n
Why? Because everything comes from somewhere, and viruses come from cellular creatures, such as animals, plants or fungi A virus can only replicate itself, function as though it were alive and abide over time if it inhabits the cells of a more complex creature, like a sort of genetic parasite.<\/p>\n
Viruses have no malice against us. They have no purposes, no schemes. They follow the same simple Darwinian imperatives as do rats or any other creature driven by a genome: to extend themselves as much as possible in abundance, in geographical space and in time.<\/p>\n
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Viewpoint: Evolution works just look at the 'success' of the coronavirus - Genetic Literacy Project<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The scope and the devastation of the pandemic reflect bad luck, yes, and a dangerous world, yes, but also catastrophic failures of human foresight, communal will and leadership. But look past that record of human failures for a moment, and consider this whole event from the point of view of the virus Continue reading