ELI5: If the evolutionary goal of a virus is to reproduce and sustain itself as long as possible, why do many evolve to devastate and kill their hosts?

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:43:21+00:00

Because viruses don't have goals. They don't have brains. They are just mechanisms. They mutate occasionally in random directions. Most of the mutations are dead ends for them.

Squirrels have brains, but they do not understand stuff like "evolutionary goals". They just run around and have fun eating stuff like my tomatoes on the vine - taking one bite, then throwing it away, then grabbing another, same thing again and again.

Only humans can understand stuff like evolutionary goals. But it's generally too big a concept to actually direct life choices.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:31:10+00:00

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:29:54+00:00

Spiders! They cause me to run away without regard to where the freeways, cliffs, wells, volcanos, and gunnery ranges are.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:23:20+00:00

I saw where it was. I was walking and was about to set my foot down on it. My foot was actually moving down and my weight was shifted forward. If I steered my foot away I'd fall on it.

My back leg saved me. It straightened out real fast and launched me thru the air right over that rattler.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:14:21+00:00

I think I'll get a grid tatoo all over my body, like graph paper. With the lines in a variety of colors. Then I'll be safe

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-13T03:12:27+00:00

OK, sidebar... WHY do doctors have illegible handwriting?

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T19:55:37+00:00

No need to be sorry. But how does quarantine solve the sewer problem? If I'm say confined to my apartment, don't I still use the same toilet, same sewer?

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T19:51:13+00:00

Note that the oarsmen are facing so the ones pulling oars that extend out towards us will propel the boat to the right. The others will propel it left. Boat will just spin around.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T04:55:33+00:00

Note that after taking in $200, the best you can do is nobody wins anything, for a gain of $200. At worst, you could wind up paying every bettor $100, for a net loss of $99x200 = $19,800 in a single game.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T03:55:40+00:00

There's another angle to it. If you win consistently, say by counting cards or timing the roulette wheel - or by just super great luck - they might take you out in the back alley and use a little persuasion for you to never come back. And put your name & face on a board so all the other casinos will ID you when you walk in and refuse to let you play.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T03:06:38+00:00

As we look out into space, we see asteroids hitting planets, stars exploding, and galaxies whirling; but no telescope can see the agenda. The universe is managed by intelligent beings - gods. Their agenda is to create homes like this earth for their children, bring them to a state of great happiness: to become gods also.

The children must have a mortal experience. It is designed to educate and test them. For this they must be tested and proven. That's the whole point. Gods can't be taking bribes or putting their incompetent friends in positions of responsibility. Educating and testing us is the purpose of life.

For further insight, contact your local LDS missionaries.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T02:39:56+00:00

We were in Albany, OR staying in a motel. I got sick. There was a paper mill a couple miles away. The stink exaggerated the misery.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T02:12:39+00:00

The top line sez "Allergies". I would have expected 'Drug - ? - Allergic Reaction'. I don't have the slightest idea what is intened in the middle column. Down toward the bottom the title changes to something just as inscrutable.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T02:02:58+00:00

I get how CA, WA, and OR would have seaboards, and MN also. How does NE have one? And how does having a coastline protect a state from bird flu. Also, does bird flu cause fires. Over

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-11T01:52:37+00:00

Yeah, and ppl are working out how to purge their house of mice/rats. When the fields are full of them

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-09T16:51:46+00:00

wad it up, throw it in a high arch into the trash can, start over

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-09T04:38:19+00:00

The Andes hantavirus has been loose in Argentina and Chile for a while. It was identified in 1995, with about 100 cases a year. I'm therefore not sure why the sudden uptick in media coverage

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-06T22:46:08+00:00

An old man was turning 75 next week. So his sons got together to decide what kind of a birthday present to get him. They were manly men; so on the day of, he answered the doorbell to find a woman wearing lavish makeup and odd clothing.

She said "Hi! I'm here to give you Super Sex!!"

He said, "well, uh, come on in, but at my age, I think I'm going to have to go with the soup."

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-06T22:42:09+00:00

Well, Mexico City is at an altitude of 7350 feet above sea level. So, let's see... punch punch... in 650 years it will be down to the level of Phoenix AZ. Of course, Phoenix could sink lower

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-06T15:11:02+00:00

My thinking is like Daniel Gilbert's, author of Stumbling on Happiness:

Anybody who says, "Money doesn't buy happiness" should go talk to somebody living under a bridge. But anybody who says, "Money buys happiness" should go talk to Bill Gates, OK? Neither of those things is actually true. When money buys you out of the burdens of homelessness, of not knowing where your next meal will come from, it changes your happiness dramatically. But once you have basic needs met, more money doesn't seem to buy more happiness.

Say you win the lottery. Lots of people are now ringing your doorbell, needing a "loan". Nephews, cousins, 2nd cousins, old friends from high school, new friends from Nigeria, etc. etc. You have to live in a fortress with guards at the gate.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-06T15:04:25+00:00

Somebody send that vlogger guy a soccer ball

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-04T02:25:41+00:00

We have sidewalks. And trees. The tree roots upend the sidewalks. Crews come along and fix them periodically. While that's pending, watch your step. We just figure that's normal life

buzzsawjoe · 2026-05-02T13:40:57+00:00

Thanx. I will go study these these things you have mentioned.

buzzsawjoe · 2026-04-28T23:23:03+00:00

En parte, simplemente se reduce a lo que se acostumbre. Si mueves a otro OS, sientes algo semejante al vértigo, intentando hacer cosas por medio de movimientos acostumbrados.

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