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?
In: 7067
Saying it doesn’t really have instinct is correct enough. A virus doesn’t need to do all that much- it happens to wander into a cell, which it’s the perfect shape for slipping into, which triggers a chemical reaction to release its genes into it.
It’s the same for why it might resist antibodies or avoid detection. It has its own DNA/RNA telling how to make it, but it doesn’t actively do much once it’s made- it relies on the infected cell carrying out its genes to do that.
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