Viruses, Agriculture, Time and You
In the newest issue of the New Yorker, Michael Specter leads us on a fascinating journey through the world of evolutionary biology, more specifically how retroviruses, viruses that alter our genetic structure, have played an extremely important role in making us who we are. You can easily get lost among his seemingly sci-fi tales of virus resurrection, traveling genetic instructions, and virus–host relationships.
What I found to be most interesting though, as someone who isn't an evolutionary biologist, was the very simple and clear summary that he provided at the beginning of this report as to what exactly a virus is.
Viruses reproduce rapidly and often with violent results… In order to survive, it must find a cell to infect. Only then can any virus make use of its single talent, which is to take control of a host's cellular machinery and use it to churn out thousands of copies of itself. These viruses then move from one cell to the next, transforming each new host into a factory that makes even more virus. In this way, one infected cell soon becomes billions.
On a seemingly unrelated topic, Daniel Quinn in his novel, The Story of B, leads us on “an adventure of the mind and spirit.” The book is a philosophical analysis of culture, religion, organized crime, war, plague, and population growth. All this, painted on a landscape of a revolution. This revolution is not of military pursuits, but of agriculture. Totalitarian Agriculture is the term he uses, to be exact, and whether you agree with Quinn's philosophies or not, the novel is worth reading and his ideas are worth thinking about if only as a thought exercise.
Quinn’s take on agricultural revolution is that it allowed humans to gain control over the environment and food production, in turn enabling them to reproduce rapidly and often with violent results. What struck me is that this is exactly Specter's definition of a virus. I assume that most individuals, when pressed, will admit that deep down, they are not very proud of the way we have affected this planet but I don’t believe it is something most concern themselves with too often. The exotic yet rational notion that we are some sort of virus to be dealt with on a cosmic scale is understandable but very disconcerting.
Perhaps in some strange way, some global-scale fractal, what we call a virus is really nothing but the Earth’s sophisticated immune system fighting back against the “virus” that we have become. Of course, the idea of humans as some sort of earth-destroying virus is exceedingly far-fetched. For one, we have become increasingly conscious of the effects, both positive and negative, that we have on the living things around us and, more to the point, in some instances put the good fortunes of those living things above our own.
Beyond this science fiction view of humans as viruses, though, is something that I think is much more of an important and driving force in the development of our species as the Earth’s antagonists. This force, this ever-present idea that we must be better, faster and stronger then we were the previous year, month, week or even day is inexhaustible. Growth has taken over as the only acceptable state for a successful economy, society, or culture to be in. A mildly retracting society or even a stable one is intrinsically viewed as one that needs to improve, to grow, to become Lee Majors rebuilt. In the West, as in the new East, these ideas are exceedingly powerful and difficult to break.
Elsewhere, though, thousands to millions of people are looking to slow down, to stop their own personal race and perhaps enjoy the ride as Carl Honore points out. Leaving us with his own personal story of slowing down he declares he is now “healthier, happier, more productive,” just as Thom Yorke suggested back in 1997. Slowing down may just be the first step in taking back our own humanity and releasing our vice-grip on all that is around us. There is hope for us yet.
thanks for your thoughts and for stopping by anonymous
Nice correlation, good article. However I would consider humans more of a parasite than a virus as applied to earth itself
To reference Earth as a biological entity, a body of its own in which it is effected by what it feeds itself and lives off of would be inaccurate since the earth itself isnt alive. Earth is simply a collection of molecules and elements forming a larger comlex. The organisms inhabiting earth are alive, earth alone is merely a substrate in which organisms can thrive on, an agar plate,in essence, with unlimited nutrients derived from the sun.
In terms of this argument in which case Earth is alive I would consider humans a parasite. As stated from American Heritage Science dictionary as found on Dictionary.com "An organism that lives on or in a different kind of organism (the host) from which it gets some or all of its nourishment. Parasites are generally harmful to their hosts, although the damage they do ranges widely from minor inconvenience to debilitating or fatal disease..."
"PARASITE." The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 29 Nov. 2007. Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/PARASITE
thank you for your comments 'anonymous'. hopefully you'll make us one of your regular stops.
I find your article sort of ironic. It speaks to me of reaching simpler times by stepping back yet your information is compressed into a single entry on the internet that references multiple sources, therefore using technology to move forward. Isn’t referencing sources and writing an article this way just another indication of how human beings compress and filter everything. I find it informative into opinion but contradicting at the same time. It is a formal presentation of ideas that weren’t independent but spun to convey agreeance. In the course of history simplicity is often showcased in independent thought. Lack of information made people independent in thought therefore independent in action. People did what they wanted. It is truly easy to point out inconsistency as I am doing, but that is not the point I am making. If you read the biography on this page about “Joe” you will see another example of contradiction. If he really always went out of his way to do the “simple” thing even though it made his life complex he would simply write books or contribute to newspapers yet he uses the forum, the trend of internet blogging, of this website to share ideas. In a way he is contributing to the possible demise of his act of picking up the paper at the local coffee shop. If everyone did as he does contributing on the web = papers becoming obsolete. He is a contradiction in his own self. I am only singling him out because he is like all of us. Therefore I would not argue that we (as human beings) are not just a virus but we are also the vaccination. Just like all species.
You could argue that more simple times were when you had less to think about as I pointed out above. But society’s burden has imposed its will on all of our freedoms to think independently. Every other species doesn’t protect their fallen or weak the same way we do and our collective compassion is just as much a difference maker as our opposable thumb. We care differently than other species. In some ways it is a great benefit to all to help someone rise from the ash of mistakes. That someone could have a profound influence on the world. In some ways it hinders growth because it places restrictions on what can be done. Where money could be spent. I argue that picking oneself up by the bootstraps can solve all ills. Independent thought and choice leads to finding and eventually the pursuit of filling a purpose. It is not the job that makes a man, it is the way a man performs in that job that defines who he is.
For every problem there is a solution. Free enterprise and unrestricted thought (avoidance of thought pollution of you can’t do this or that) processes would lead to problem solving. New ideas and expansion of technology don’t always complicate things. Sometimes they return the peace. A challenge of a complex problem will undoubtedly stir a purpose to arise in someone that will produce a solution. Democracy and capitalism were built on this premise. The convoluted natures of laws, taxes, and restrictions have begun to impede progress creating mass confusion. People take the easy way out. They use special interest groups in our capitol to spoil true innovation.
The reason we look more like a virus of late is because we stop ourselves from allowing ourselves to create; therefore stop ourselves from being the much needed remedy, the vaccination.