why aren’t viruses “alive”?

Question

Hi everyone,

I’m not very knowledgeable about science, so I’m struggling to understand the notion that viruses aren’t “alive”, and the robot analogies people use. I understand that they don’t have some of the characteristics (cells, ability to reproduce), but my mind can’t wrap itself around the notion that they’re like objects. Can you please give some examples that could explain this in a way that is accessible to someone who isn’t very advanced in the subject?

Thanks

EDIT: wow thanks so much guys for so many amazing replies!!!

In: 29

Answer 1

Because viruses are basically DNA capsules that are just clumps of proteins. They don’t have cells in the sense that unicellular or multicellular organisms do. Another thing about viruses is their method of reproduction. They basically require a host cell to hijack which they inject RNA into and the host cell makes copies of that virus. Not exactly how majority of living organisms reproduce.