Is an egg a chicken?

ThatOwlWoman said:
I've often wondered if the human desire -- across all human cultures and epochs of time -- to worship a divine being isn't a vestige of our baby- and childhood worship of and dependence on our parents.
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It's more diverse than that, but, yes, the parental-child relationship is certainly a factor in how people relate to their existence.

FWIW, not all cultures "worship" a "divine being". Most certainly understand there are mysteries to the Universe and their own spirituality.

Imagine going to an stone age culture and trying to explain radio waves to them. You can even show them a radio but it doesn't work because 1) there's no electricity and 2) it's out of range of a transmitter.

The Cargo Cult of WWII was an interesting example of the "worship" aspect. IIRC, that was the inspiration of the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy".

OTOH, people like Siddhartha Gautama wasn't worshipping anything. He was looking for something spiritual within himself, in existence.
 
Are viruses alive or dead? Well, we know they’re not dead. Death is what happens when a living organism stops performing biological functions, and for the moment we’re only interested in the active particles. So were they ever alive? Most biologists say no. Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms. (Think Data from Star Trek, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the robots in I, Robot). Just like crazy killer robots, viruses are created fully formed, and rely on host materials to build and power themselves.

What happens if a virus infects another virus? Scientists found a bacteria-sized giant virus which they named mamavirus. Upon further study, it turned out that this giant virus actually had a smaller virus associated with it. When mamavirus infected amoebae, it created a giant virus factory, whose machinery was then hijacked by the smaller virus (Sputnik). Some scientists have pointed out the fact that if a virus can get sick, then it is should be considered a living thing. (Pearson).

:whoa:

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive#:~:text=Are%20viruses%20alive%20or%20dead%3F,-Well%2C%20we%20know&text=Most%20biologists%20say%20no.,androids%20than%20real%20living%20organisms.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Seems more about revising our own definitions of "life" declaring viruses dead.

"Finally, however, scientists are beginning to appreciate viruses as fundamental players in the history of life."

Rocks don't enter into people, replicate using their body, then exit to enter other people.
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Think of them like nanobots.
 
AProudLefty said:
Are viruses alive or dead? Well, we know they’re not dead. Death is what happens when a living organism stops performing biological functions, and for the moment we’re only interested in the active particles. So were they ever alive? Most biologists say no. Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms. (Think Data from Star Trek, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the robots in I, Robot). Just like crazy killer robots, viruses are created fully formed, and rely on host materials to build and power themselves.

What happens if a virus infects another virus? Scientists found a bacteria-sized giant virus which they named mamavirus. Upon further study, it turned out that this giant virus actually had a smaller virus associated with it. When mamavirus infected amoebae, it created a giant virus factory, whose machinery was then hijacked by the smaller virus (Sputnik). Some scientists have pointed out the fact that if a virus can get sick, then it is should be considered a living thing. (Pearson).

:whoa:

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive#:~:text=Are%20viruses%20alive%20or%20dead%3F,-Well%2C%20we%20know&text=Most%20biologists%20say%20no.,androids%20than%20real%20living%20organisms.
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Again, more like our definition of "life" is lacking.

Consider self-replicating nanobots. Man-made. Not living but, as the definition states, not dead either because it was never alive.

How do we classify something that can attack you, invade you, use your body as a resource then, after it's replicated millions of times and killed you, moves on to do it to another?

I'm not a virologist nor a biologist, but it does seem we're lacking a common vocabulary to describe this. Something like English has, basically, two words for snow; snow and slush. Other cultures have specific words for things that, in English, we have to make phrases like "dry snow".

https://readable.com/blog/do-inuits-really-have-50-words-for-snow/

Another example is describing what happened prior to the Big Bang. Since Space-Time began after the Big Bang, how could it be "prior"? It can't, we just lack the word for it.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Again, more like our definition of "life" is lacking.

Consider self-replicating nanobots. Man-made. Not living but, as the definition states, not dead either because it was never alive.

How do we classify something that can attack you, invade you, use your body as a resource then, after it's replicated millions of times and killed you, moves on to do it to another?

I'm not a virologist nor a biologist, but it does seem we're lacking a common vocabulary to describe this. Something like English has, basically, two words for snow; snow and slush. Other cultures have specific words for things that, in English, we have to make phrases like "dry snow".

https://readable.com/blog/do-inuits-really-have-50-words-for-snow/
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So it would be Schrodinger's viruses. ;)
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Again, more like our definition of "life" is lacking.

Consider self-replicating nanobots. Man-made. Not living but, as the definition states, not dead either because it was never alive.

How do we classify something that can attack you, invade you, use your body as a resource then, after it's replicated millions of times and killed you, moves on to do it to another?

I'm not a virologist nor a biologist, but it does seem we're lacking a common vocabulary to describe this. Something like English has, basically, two words for snow; snow and slush. Other cultures have specific words for things that, in English, we have to make phrases like "dry snow".

https://readable.com/blog/do-inuits-really-have-50-words-for-snow/

Another example is describing what happened prior to the Big Bang. Since Space-Time began after the Big Bang, how could it be "prior"? It can't, we just lack the word for it.
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what is the sound of one hand clapping?
 
AssHatZombie said:
what is the sound of one hand clapping?
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You don't know? Perhaps you should meditate more on it.
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