You know where it starts falling apart? It's right at the very beginning, but no one ever seems to mention it. The simple question is: are viruses alive?
Everyone can do their own research on this, although no one ever does or even considers that question. And not to give away the answer but, no, they are not. You will. however, find any number of loose counterarguments involving primarily hand-waving and increasingly aggressive sophistry. (We may get to see some in this thread!)
But if viruses are not alive, huge questions instantly arise. How can viruses be "killed" by disinfectants? What was in traditional vaccinations using "killed" viruses? What precisely is the difference between a "live" virus and a "killed" virus? Should anything worthy of the description "science" be using the adjective "killed" for something that was never alive?
I bring this up because almost everyone, even "conspiracy theorists", are simply looking for "experts" to adhere to rather than thinking matters through for themselves. This is a very not good thing.
Yeah, the Koch's Postulates wiki page is a riot. They can barely stand to even state them before they start shouting how, well, there's all these exceptions, you see, and if you don't agree you're stupid and hate science.
I've thought through examples where, if they were allowed to fail to satisfy one or more of the postulates, things like knife wounds could be considered communicable diseases. Also how the horribly transmissible "cooties" could be reliably diagnosed with a coin flip.
You know where it starts falling apart? It's right at the very beginning, but no one ever seems to mention it. The simple question is: are viruses alive?
Everyone can do their own research on this, although no one ever does or even considers that question. And not to give away the answer but, no, they are not. You will. however, find any number of loose counterarguments involving primarily hand-waving and increasingly aggressive sophistry. (We may get to see some in this thread!)
But if viruses are not alive, huge questions instantly arise. How can viruses be "killed" by disinfectants? What was in traditional vaccinations using "killed" viruses? What precisely is the difference between a "live" virus and a "killed" virus? Should anything worthy of the description "science" be using the adjective "killed" for something that was never alive?
I bring this up because almost everyone, even "conspiracy theorists", are simply looking for "experts" to adhere to rather than thinking matters through for themselves. This is a very not good thing.
Yeah, the Koch's Postulates wiki page is a riot. They can barely stand to even state them before they start shouting how, well, there's all these exceptions, you see, and if you don't agree you're stupid and hate science.
I've thought through examples where, if they were allowed to fail to satisfy one or more of the postulates, things like knife wounds could be considered communicable diseases. Also how the horribly transmissible "cooties" could be reliably diagnosed with a coin flip.