At long last, we may be returning to the original two-sided sense of the word virus, which originally signified either a life-giving substance or a deadly venom. Viruses are indeed exquisitely deadly, but they have provided the world with some of its most important innovations. Creation and destruction join together once more.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the dual nature of viruses as both harmful and beneficial to innovation.
Carl Zimmer's quote emphasizes the complex nature of viruses, highlighting that while they can be deadly agents of disease, they have also played a significant role in driving scientific progress and innovation. This duality represents a fundamental aspect of many elements in nature, where creation and destruction coexist, leading to new discoveries and advancements. By pointing out this duality, Zimmer invites us to reconsider our understanding of viruses and their impact on life and science.
In practice
In a presentation about the role of viruses in biotechnology, one might use this quote to illustrate their positive contributions.
Researchers keep identifying new species, but they have no idea about the life cycle of a given species or its other hosts. They cut open an animal and find a new species. Where did it come from? What effect does it have on its host? What is its next host? They don't know and they don't have time to find out, because there are too many other species waiting to be discovered and described.
Perhaps most ridiculous of all is the suggestion that we 'keep' our radioactive garbage for the use of our descendants. This 'solution', I think, requires an immediate poll of the next 20,000 generations.
No educated person believes the Adam and Eve myth nowadays, but it's surprising how many parents think that it's somehow fun to pass on this falsehood to their children...I would want to argue that the truth of evolution is more interesting and more poetic
Notwithstanding all that has been discovered since Newton's time, his saying that we are little children picking up pretty pebbles on the beach while the whole ocean lies before us unexplored remains substantially as true as ever, and will do so though we shovel up the pebbles by steam shovels and carry them off in carloads.
We are, in a way, temporary ambulatory repositories for our nucleic acids. This does not deny our humanity; it does not prevent us from pursuing the good, the true and the beautiful. But it would be a great mistake to ignore where we have come from in our attempt to determine where we are going.
The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and works like a bookkeeper
A scientist who is also a human being cannot rest while knowledge which might be used to reduce suffering rests on the shelf.
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