
Ask HN: Are Viruses Alive? - erikig
I keep seeing advise to wash hands and use hand sanitizer to kill viruses but are they alive? Original sources would help in the responses.
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SigmundA
How can you kill that which has no life?

Humans apply taxonomy to nature, useful but ultimately flawed models.

Reality seems to be continuum, nature does whatever works and has no concern
for neat categories.

My opinion is viruses are "alive" as they are unique replicating and evolving
genetic code that can be identified distinctly from the host.

Other opinions are they must have other biological process to be considered
"alive". The debate does not seem to be settled, its pretty similar to the is
Pluto a planet, again another human taxonomy that not everything in nature
fits neatly into.

I think as we discover more of the universe our definition of life will
probably need to evolve. Already our computers make us question the
definition, when will software become "alive" or "conscious". We already
sometimes speak in terms of "biological" or "organic" based life.

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alamortsubite
> I keep seeing advise to wash hands and use hand sanitizer to kill viruses

Sorry this really doesn't answer your question, but "inactivate" is probably
more accurate than "kill."

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SigmundA
Except no one normally says that. Also inactivate connotates it can be
reactivated, destroy would probably be the better word for something not
considered alive at least for lay people. I know some people worry inactive
viruses in vaccines can reactivate and infect you.

Then again most people will just say kill since the same agents that kill
bacteria and other fully agreed upon microscopic life forms tend to work
similarly on viruses.

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tic_tac
Is 79°F hot?

Alive is just a word. It means different things to different people and any
formal definition will necessarily be arbitrary.

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zzo38computer
They told me at school that viruses are not life forms. But, that is a good
point I suppose, and, should want to know how that is determined "is it
alive"?

