Tangentially (and anecdotally), not long ago I seem to have contracted what seems like a flu (or the like), and I remember feeling very healthy, social and unusually well—almost high—most of the day right until my brain went foggy and fever started.
In hindsight, I did not behave quite like myself that day, especially considering I felt somewhat overworked the preceding week.
This prompted me to first draw the analogy with taking and withdrawing from a substance, and then to imagine a possibility of some future human-made flu-like virus that preserves the incubation stage effects and lacks the “conventional” symptoms. Like a contagious mood boost, contractable for free by air!
The action of taking the former is probably in alignment with some goals (even if potentially short-sighted), while contracting the latter alters your behavior so that it can spread more widely in accordance with the goals of its own DNA.
But yeah, I didn’t think my analogy through further than surface symptoms.
Yeah I always feel fantastic the day before I get sick. I don’t have any sources, but I remember reading that it’s due to your immune system ramping up and getting ready to fight. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but every time I’m sick, I can look back and see I felt great the day before.
I've noticed exactly the same experience in recent years with common colds (which I've had slightly more often than normal thanks to young children). Like the parent post, the day before I feel
"unusually well—almost high", and the next day the cold symptoms start, or I get a day of feeling especially unwell without any specific symptoms (the blearghs). Don't think I've read anything supporting this, but in my layperson's mind it is due to my immune system going into overdrive trying to fight the infection.
In hindsight, I did not behave quite like myself that day, especially considering I felt somewhat overworked the preceding week.
This prompted me to first draw the analogy with taking and withdrawing from a substance, and then to imagine a possibility of some future human-made flu-like virus that preserves the incubation stage effects and lacks the “conventional” symptoms. Like a contagious mood boost, contractable for free by air!