Are viruses alive?

Mwa ha ha, it's alive! Or is it?


Asked by: ANON

‘Life’ is a macroscopic, anthropocentric concept that doesn’t scale down to the level of a virus very well. Most definitions put viruses at the boundary between living and non-living because, although they move, feed and reproduce, they do so only by hijacking the machinery of other cells. But then, a human sperm cell can’t reproduce without another cell, either.

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