Virus As A Living Object (original) (raw)
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Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences, 2016
The view that life is composed of distinct entities with well-defined boundaries has been undermined in recent years by the realisation of the near omnipresence of symbiosis. What had seemed to be intrinsically stable entities have turned out to be systems stabilised only by the interactions between a complex set of underlying processes (Dupré, 2012). This has not only presented severe problems for our traditional understanding of biological individuality but has also led some to claim that we need to switch to a process ontology to be able adequately to understand biological systems. A large group of biological entities, however, has been excluded from these discussions, namely viruses. Viruses are usually portrayed as stable and distinct individuals that do not fit the more integrated and collaborative picture of nature implied by symbiosis. In this paper we will contest this view. We will first discuss recent findings in virology that show that viruses can be 'nice' and c...
henk korbee, 2022
This article relies on the book Korbee (2022a), espe- cially for the used symbols, and the article Korbee (2022b). I deviate mostly from the standard terminology for the simple reasons of avoid- ing preconceived ideas as much as possible. I do not assume that the basic knowledge needed to understand the whole idea behind what a virus is or should be is known. I experienced that understanding so- phisticated theories better, or, being able to criticize the basics, one has to turn the basics around and around in order to grasp it. To demonstrate the existence of SomeThing that would cause disease, more or less, Robert Koch designed his four postulates in which it is demanded to separate a BioThing from living matter. A virus would be such a Thing. Its transmission takes place through activities such as sneezing, coughing and spitting. These viruses would be present in aerosols. These are inhalable which would result in contamina- tion. 1Aerosols have a diameter of 0.002 µm to 200 µm. The droplet cores in an aerosol have a size between 0.001 µm to 100 µm. Or by means of droplet cores created after evaporation of aerosols. The size of these droplets is between 1 µm and 5 µm. To see anything smaller than 500 µm an electron microscope is needed, hence seeing virusses one needs such an aid as mentioned. Thus, seeing a virus is consid- ered as a synonym for the existence of it. However, Leibniz’ Identity Law also applies to seeing figures under an electron microscoop. Ap- parently viruses are clearly distinguishable from other BioThings, which means that a characteristic, SomeThing typical for a virus, must be visible in order for viruses to be identified visually, whether or not using a tool. For some kind of reasons a biochemical struc- ture has been chosen as the characteristic of a virus. The emerging question then is whether that structure can be identified under an electron microscope and can be used to explain illnesses having typi- cal appearances. Moreover, it appears that the virus is able to adapt quickly to the environment which can only be confirmed if also the transition phase can be observed. But adapting to the environment is a characteristic of life en hence this is a metaphysical statement, a statement about how life is. In that sense, a virus is a biochem- ical structure that shows signs of life. In addition, as described, it seems that viruses form a almost dense collection in life, i.e. there are no two living persons (LivPers) to be found without a possible transmission of a virus between them.
Viruses, virophages, and their living nature
Acta Virologica, 2010
Over 100 years viruses have fascinated scientists around the world. Although biologists, chemists, physicians, veterinarians, and even physicists attempted to elucidate the nature of viruses, the question still remains "Are viruses alive?" Different theories have aimed at unifying our views of virology to provide an answer. However, the discovery of a mimivirus, its genome organization and replication cycle, in addition to the recently found virophage challenged the established frontier between viruses and parasitic cellular organisms. Consequently, the old controversy whether viruses are inert agents at the threshold of life or a different form of life was reignited. This review reopens the debate about the living nature of viruses from the classical concepts to the recent discoveries in order to rationally discuss our beliefs about the living or non-living character of viruses.
Understanding Viruses: Philosophical Investigations Editorial introduction
- Even though it has been neglected, the study of viruses raises important philosophical questions. - Questions about viruses (definition, classification, etc.) can be related to classic issues in philosophy of biology and general philosophy. - The contributions gathered in this special issue address these questions in different and sometimes conflicting ways.
Understanding viruses: Philosophical investigations
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 2016
• Even though it has been neglected, the study of viruses raises important philosophical questions. • Questions about viruses (definition, classification, etc.) can be related to classic issues in philosophy of biology and general philosophy. • The contributions gathered in this special issue address these questions in different and sometimes conflicting ways.
An organisational systems-biology view of viruses explains why they are not alive
Biosystems, 2021
Whether or not viruses are alive remains unsettled. Discoveries of giant viruses with translational genes and large genomes have kept the debate active. Here, a fresh approach is introduced, based on the organisational definition of life from within systems biology. It views living as a circular process of self-organisation and self-construction which is ‘closed to efficient causation’. How information combines with force to fabricate and organise environmentally obtained materials, given an energy source, is here explained as a physical embodiment of informational constraint. Comparing a general virus replication cycle with Rosen’s -system shows it to be linear, rather than closed. Some viruses contribute considerable organisational information, but so far none is known to supply all required, nor the material nor energy necessary to complete their replication cycle. As a result, no known virus replication cycle is closed to efficient causation: unlike cellular obligate parasites, viruses do not match the causal structure of an -system. Analysis based in identifying a Markov blanket in causal structure proved inconclusive, but using Integrated Information Theory on a Boolean representation, it was possible to show that the causal structure of a virocell is not different from that of the host cell.
Virus Ontology: Thing, Being, Process, or Information?
MultiMedia Publishing, 2020
The study of viruses raises pressing conceptual and philosophical questions about their nature, their classification, and their place in the biological world. A major set of problems concerns the individuality and diachronic identity of a virus: what is the virus, the viral particle (virion) or the entire viral cycle? The correct identification of the virus has significant ontological consequences, also related to the place and time when biological entities begin and end. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35874.66241
Computer viruses as artificial life
1994
There has been considerable interest in computer viruses since they first appeared in 1981, and especially in the past few years as they have reached epidemic numbers in many personal computer environments. Viruses have been written about as a security problem, as a social problem, and as a possible means of performing useful tasks in a distributed computing environment. However, only recently have some scientists begun to ask if computer viruses are not a form of artificial life—a self-replicating organism.
Computer Virus Biological Model.
International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology, 2012
The term virus is dispersed to various domains of science and biological framework is one that can be used to map with the computer viruses .The artificial elements of life exists in computer virus and how it get frame is a curious question in itself but in this paper we try give a biological mapping of computer viruses.
What Is Life? Are Viruses Living Entities?
What is life, what is the difference between something that is alive and something that is not, are viruses living beings, or what would life be like elsewhere in the universe, are questions that still do not have clear-cut answers fully accepted by the scientific community. Based on the fundamental attributes of all living things, I define life as a process that takes place in very ordered organic structures and is characterized by being automatic, interactive and evolutionary. I also define a living being as an organic, highly ordered, automatic, interacting and evolutionary system, and a robot as an ordered automatic and interacting system. Based on this definition and what we know about the biology of viruses, I maintain that they should be considered as living entities. Finally, I explain why if there were life elsewhere in the universe, it would be very similar to what we know on our planet.