Eli5-If a virus isn’t technically alive, I would assume it doesn’t have instinct. Where does it get its instructions/drive to know to infect host cells and multiply?
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Think of a virus like a chain letter; all it has is packaging (envelope) and a set of instructions.
If a chain letter says “Send this to 10 people, or you will die in 7 days!” Then it can convince some people to go along with copying it and mailing out more letters. The more successful a chain letter is, the more of that chain letter gets produced. The letter itself doesn’t have any intentions, but if it doesn’t get people that receive it to make more letters, then new chain letters won’t be produced and the chain will end.
A good chain letter needs to be packaged in an envelope that won’t be tossed out before being opened (needs to blend in with other mail), and it needs to have an effective call to action to get people to make copies (threats of bad luck or being cursed). Over time, small changes in the text of the letter may occur. Instead of the letter saying the receiver “will be cursed to go deaf”, the letter might be written as “cursed to deaf” and then copied again to “cursed to death”. This change might be totally a result of chance, but new chain letters will now include a different, more severe threat of consequences, and so might be more successful at getting recipients to make new copies of it.
A virus is more complicated, but basically works the same way; it needs to be let into the cell and to get the cell to make copies of the virus. If it doesn’t do so successfully, then the virus will eventually die out. The better a virus is at spreading, the more of it there will be.
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