Okay, this came into my friend and I's idea just a few hours ago. I was talking about a semi-psuedo design for an intergalactic space ship (before you try disproving me, just wait for the idea that I will probably never tell you unless directly asked). We came into the subject of alien life as a whole.
We assumed it would be much more terraformed than our current society. Think of it as a place before a meteor or something destroyed the dinosaurs in one fell swoop (Cite Needed). So anyway, this gave us the idea of inter-continental travel in the "way back in the olden days" age, where North America wasn't exactly... Discovered.
Most people in north america were fairly healthy by definition. They survived. Then the Europeans came. Not only did they preform some nice, healthy genocide on natives as well as pretty much anything they didn't like, but they brought disease and viruses with them.
Viruses, as anyone who payed attention in biology should know, are not technically living. They infect a cell and make the cell replicate. So, in the "Viruses for dummies" way of saying it, a virus doesn't reproduce with itself. It tells something else to produce it. Think of it like a robot telling a factory to make more robots. Since Viruses aren't technically living, it was pretty much up to a roll with a 1d60,000 (cite needed) and getting a 1 that it would manage to show up. That being said, would there be a virus on an alien planet? Any form of virus, really. Doesn't matter if it's deadly or particularly effective against humans... All the same, would there be a virus on an alien planet, when North America had practically no viruses before the Europeans came?
Your history is a little off, North America had viruses, they were just immune to them, as they had built up anti bodies. That is the same reason the English did not die in a mass scale in a similar way. Having said that, I believe it would depend on how far along the species is. If it is mere bacterium or protozoa, then it is doubtful there would be virus. If there were multiple celled, then probably. If they were extremely advanced, then they may have eradicated, the final being the least possible.
Most people in north america were fairly healthy by definition. They survived. Then the Europeans came. Not only did they preform some nice, healthy genocide on natives as well as pretty much anything they didn't like, but they brought disease and viruses with them.
And there is also potential for the Europeans to have purposely infected the Natives with smallpox...however I don't think that I did given the research I made last year for an essay on the topic.
How do we know that Viruses aren't aliens themselves? They are different to ever other form of life on the planet yet they seem to be able to infect people and create problems.
Aliens are likely to not even be made of the same stuff as us - they might be nitrogen or silicon based. Personally I'm hoping for Caesium based...because then we can own them with water pistols.
Most people in north america were fairly healthy by definition. They survived. Then the Europeans came. Not only did they preform some nice, healthy genocide on natives as well as pretty much anything they didn't like, but they brought disease and viruses with them.
Nope. They died to the European diseases because they weren't immune (And they were pretty deadly viruses). But if I remember right (Citation needed) then the Aztecs suffered from a lot of constipation problems and deadly fevers.
How do we know that Viruses aren't aliens themselves? They are different to ever other form of life on the planet yet they seem to be able to infect people and create problems.
If viruses are living things is a long argument, scientifically and philosophical. They don't consist of cells, can only live through parasitism, but they reproduce, which should make them a living thing.
Aliens are likely to not even be made of the same stuff as us - they might be nitrogen or silicon based. Personally I'm hoping for Caesium based...because then we can own them with water pistols.
Who's to say they'd be made of one material? Most likely they'll be complex structures made of many different materials, like us.
Or at least the ones we recognize as 'living', unlike viruses...
If it is mere bacterium or protozoa, then it is doubtful there would be virus. If there were multiple celled, then probably. If they were extremely advanced, then they may have eradicated, the final being the least possible.
Why? There is no date when viruses began on Earth, perhaps they began when life began. I see no evidence in your theory, or reasoning.
Why? There is no date when viruses began on Earth, perhaps they began when life began. I see no evidence in your theory, or reasoning.
The simple fact that no(or little) viruses have been found witch infect only bacteria and protozoa, and the fact that at said level they could likely since viruses, making an ineffective predictor and pray scheme.
And as for your "viruses are living" ideals, I disagree. As the example is, it is like a robot telling a factory to make more robots. The robot is not reproducing, the factory is.
Since Viruses aren't technically living, it was pretty much up to a roll with a 1d60,000 (cite needed) and getting a 1 that it would manage to show up. That being said, would there be a virus on an alien planet? Any form of virus, really. Doesn't matter if it's deadly or particularly effective against humans... All the same, would there be a virus on an alien planet, when North America had practically no viruses before the Europeans came?
Interesting Topic of the Night medal awarded to Thoad
Yes, when a virus does infect the body, once it is over, the body produces memory T-Cells to prevent the virus from a similarly-powerful infection. The virus however, remains inhibited in the body, and it remains on objects and the air around the people that were around the virus, waiting for a host to come and take it. Since the Native Americans had not encountered this sort of virus before, they had no T-Cells to defend itself, and they suffered thus.
On the matter of extra-terrestrial viruses...why not? Really, all a virus is is an RNA blob with a protein coat surrounding it, whilst mechanisms of travel depending on evolutionary environments. Life one Earth started microscopic; it didn't just pop up animals and plants when they are composed of single-celled life; that's silly talk! I'm pretty sure that extra-terrestrial life starts off the same. Descending-life patterns just don't work. Naturally.
I personally don't think that the ability to reproduce is what makes something living. Mules can't reproduce, and yet they are undoubtedly alive.
Exactly, they are artificial. They don't make more mules in any way. In nature, there would be no mules. Mules are born from there parents, while viruses are born from there host. Viruses exist in nature, but they do not reproduce themselves, making them considered not living.
Doesn't matter. Mules have cells, aka the smallest forms of life. They are living, even though they cannot reproduce. Viruses are not alive, because they are not a cell. They are an RNA blob with a protein coat surrounding it.
