People the Virus

[johntheplamf]

Due to the damage we inflict on the Earth, which is after all, a living thing, Can the human race be construed as a virus?

p.s. I know it was in the matrix movie, but i thought it was a good question.

[rja211077]

Virus is defined thus by dictionary.com: Any of various simple submicroscopic parasites of plants, animals, and bacteria that often cause disease and that consist essentially of a core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat. Unable to replicate without a host cell, viruses are typically not considered living organisms.

So, no.

Parasite would be slightly more apt, but then that again depends on you defining the earth as being a living organism. Which it isn't.

[ludwig]

A better analogy is cancer, because we are not a foreign body to the earth, we are of the earth - however, we are like a rogue element that is growing at a disproportional rate to the surrounding 'tissue' in a way that threatens to eventually destroy the whole organism, and ourselves with it.

[inferno]

The earth is not a living thing, its a mass of inorganic material upon which a  large amount of organic material lives. We are part of the organic material. We exploit both the organic and inorganic matter probably to a larger extent than any other species. The earth itself won't be damaged by us, but we seem to be making a pretty good job of over-exploiting the biosphere. It is argued by many reptuable scientists that we are responsible for a mass extinction of other species, possible including ourselves. In the long run even that won't damage the earth as there have been several very large mass extinctions in the past, but thanks to the wonders of genes and natural selection we currently have a very diverse set of life forms despite perhaps 95% of all living species having been destroyed in some of these events.