If we can call normal viruses life, they being just RNA covered with protein, no internal workings, and certainly no consciousness, then I think we ought to call computer viruses life as well.
They multiply, the can evolve, they defend themselves. What more does one need? Sure, they're not biological, but why is that important to the concept of life?
2006-12-09 02:28:08 · 18 answers · asked by Bhagwad 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
If people say that a computer virus is 'just' a file, one can perhaps make the argument that a biological virus is 'just' a strand of RNA covered with a coat of protein.
For those who say that it cannot feel, neither can a biological virus. And I'm sure that bacteria cannot 'feel' either.
2006-12-09 02:55:22 · update #1
There's questions in the medical field, as well as among philosophers, about whether viruses count as a life form. And even if computer viruses were to be considered a life form, I doubt they would be given a status above biological viruses or other parasites.
But your question is interesting on several levels. Eventually, computer technology will be advanced enough that it wil be almost indistinguishable from life forms. In fact, there has been research into making computers that use RNA itself.
2006-12-09 02:43:58 · answer #1 · answered by Dave of the Hill People 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No a computer virus is not a life form. I totally agree with your anology but computer viruses so not really defend themself and they do not truly multiply in the way a lifeform would. Computer viruses do not evolve on their own they need the programmer/writer to code the evolution into the virus therefor they are not alive they are just doing what they were programmed to do
2006-12-09 02:33:55 · answer #2 · answered by carlfused 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I know this may be a little OT, but I have been reading the various posts about viruses infecting computers in this forum for a while now. The more I read, the more I can't help getting the feeling we humans have, or are on the cusp of creating a form of life.
I have included a few articles I found searching google,
»www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/AI/alife/al-virus.htm
»www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/HKPC/Comput···uses.htm
»www.panspermia.org/whatis2.htm
2006-12-09 02:38:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No a computer virus is a file that plants it's self in your hard drive.
2006-12-09 02:31:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No it isn't. If you were expecting a computer virus to be a life form, then it wouldn't infect the computer, it would infect us. However, a computer virus is a virtual bug.
2006-12-09 02:36:10 · answer #5 · answered by ralph2god 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Of cause not .virus is tiny small exe files.
2006-12-09 02:39:40 · answer #6 · answered by NIKOLAJ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Virus is a living being or not is still in debate.
If your aspect is right answer me,
The mannequins deliver babies, are they alive?
2006-12-09 02:48:24 · answer #7 · answered by grefriend 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i dont think so... i dont even think that real viruses are considered to be alive. they are not composed of cells... which are the building blocks of life.
2006-12-09 03:46:16 · answer #8 · answered by newyork 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
viruses are not alive
so comp viruses certainly aren't
2006-12-09 02:31:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are not . They have no independent will or thought. They can only do as much as there program allows
2006-12-09 02:33:12 · answer #10 · answered by bobus1964 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋