Living Virii?

[jackofallgeeks]

So... there's an
article arguing that new research 'proves' that viruses are alive. I'm
less than convinced. I mean, it all depends on what you want to define as
'alive,' really -- though, I think something like "carries out metabolic
processes" would be higher on the list than, "can be compromised by a
virus." What the research found was that a "giant" virus that infects
amoebae has been found itself to be playing host to a smaller virus. Except
the article seems unclear as to what's really going on -- my understanding
is that the smaller virus is itself infecting the same already-compromised
amoeba, not the 'giant virus' itself. Regardless, my point is simply that,
as the article says, viruses are just "glorified scraps of DNA." A shard of
glass may cut my finger and a small stone may get into the cut, but this
fact doesn't make the glass or the stone any more "alive."