Finally someone asks the real question. Is there an objective definition to life that Virus may or may not fall under? Or would it depend on Thano’s subjective opinion on the matter?
Comment on I'd have to hear her argument, but...
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 2 months agoDo viruses get snapped too or na
kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 2 months ago
BenReilly97@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The scientific definition of life changes constantly, but viruses more often than not fall under “not alive.”
Throughout, viruses have rarely been considered alive. More than 120 definitions of life exist today, and most require metabolism, a set of chemical reactions that produce energy. Viruses do not metabolize. They also don’t fit some other common criteria. They do not have cells. They cannot reproduce independently. Viruses are inert packages of DNA or RNA that cannot replicate without a host cell.
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
You’ve opened your inbox to a scientific debate that has raged since virology began.
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m aware ;)
HonkTonkWoman@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I’m just here to remind you we’re all makin’ durty with your inbox this evening [bowchickawowow…].
Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 2 months ago
technically viruses aren’t alive. They just use cellular machinery to replicate and thats it.
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Eh, it’s not really that cut and dry. You could debate either way with plenty of evidence, in the end it’s really a limit to the semantics of language
Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Thats pretty neat “you cant kill something thats not alive”. Can viruses respond to stimuli? We consider bacteria alive but viruses are debated, wheres the line? are enzymes alive? Are prions alive? cool article.
Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.org 2 months ago
And da babies in-utero? Did the Infinity Gauntlet go by conception or 24-weeks?
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
There were zero reports I’ve heard from any TV, movie, or comic reference to the snap of unborn (but possibly viable) babies being left behind (by any species even) when the pregnant mother disappeared in the snap. That suggests the Infinity Gauntlet doesn’t consider the unborn as a separate individual until birth.
Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.org 2 months ago
This scenario didn’t even enter my head when I posed the question. That’s some Stephen King-level imagery though—a snapped mother disappearing only for an amniotic sac to drop in her place.
AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Following that logic conjoined twins would either both be snapped or neither would.
samus12345@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think the Gauntlet counted any being that required another to live as all one unit for simplicity’s sake.
match@pawb.social 2 months ago
imagine the stone suddenly surgically removing your conjoined twin but leaving you with a typical body afterwards. then 5 years later your twin - now noticably younger and alien to you - is reattached
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Now you got this idea in my head, if it would have been possible to know if the Infinity Gauntlet considered conception, couldn’t a species, lets say humans, knowing “the snap” was a possible risk, create massive stores of zygotes kept on ice? Lets say 10 zygotes to every 1 living human. After the snap of “half” that would mean that instead of 50% of humans disappearing it would only have been 2.5%.
Moreover, since every other species would have lost 50% and been in chaos it would have been prime opportunity to conquer other species still in disarray.
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Now I’d love to see a story about a species that has huge numbers of young but also incredibly high infant mortality. So in the snap they mostly lost a bunch of kids who were going to die anyway. Then they decide to take advantage and invade their neighbors, and Captain Marvel comes to help.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Why would zygotes get dusted at a higher rate than adults?
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Same rate, but higher * total number* of zygotes dusted because there would be far more zygotes than grown humans.