The Corona virus does not want to kill you. Not exactly. It wants to survive.
All living organisms are innately designed to do one thing. Survive.
All our behavior is largely geared towards survival.
Now, there are two ways in which we try to survive. One is by staying alive, avoiding death. We eat, shelter and protect ourselves from harm to avoid death.
The other way we try to survive is by reproducing. We procreate primarily to ensure we survive through transferring our genes. Since our lives are finite, reproduction is the only sure way to ensure our genes keep roaming the face of the earth long after we are gone. It works all the time.
The reason why you exist is because your grandmother and grandfather hooked up and made a baby. Genes that do not replicate eventually become extinct.
Your grandmother knows this too well. That’s why she keeps telling you to give her more grandchildren.
Viruses also want to survive and the only way they know how to survive is by spreading, moving from one host to another. Somehow your body does not like hosting the virus so, it tries to kill it through your immune response. The virus adapts and hides in respiratory droplets, hoping to find another host when you cough or sneeze. If it does not find a host, it dies.
Vaccination reduces the chances of contracting the virus. You know, just like using contraceptives, no grandchildren are born. I digress.
For the virus to survive it must have some adaptive features that make it resilient against being killed before it spreads. In other words, human beings who survive are those who live long enough to spread. Not getting killed earlier in life increases your chances of transferring your genes.
This means that your progenitor, your foremothers and fathers survived because they had some adaptive traits that enabled them to withstand disease, predators and the vagaries of life. They avoided premature death. Interestingly, those who survive long enough to reproduce, are also likely to transfer their adaptive traits to their progeny, increasing the chances of the offspring’s survival.
The reason why you are around is because your ancestors not only reproduced but also had some traits that enabled them to survive during their time. They were probably good at lying, cooperating and foraging. And you inherited those traits. So really, the genes that survive are those that are adaptive and spread.
Let’s talk about the cockroaches in your house. Whenever you spray them with a lethal dawa ya mende, most of them die. But a few survive the onslaught. Those that survive give birth to cockroaches that have a tendency to withstand the adverse effects of your poison. Then they keep reproducing until there is a generation of cockroaches that can eat your poison for breakfast!
Ideas are also like genes, like viruses. Richard Dawkins in his masterpiece, the selfish gene, called them “memes”.
Just like human beings, ideas can die a premature death before they spread.
Only those that are resilient enough and spread like memes will survive.
We all have ideas. Will they survive?
Here’s to good ideas that will survive in 2021 and beyond.
Fabio