Viruses are generally very much simpler than bacteria, yes.
My possibly flawed understanding is that most viruses don’t really do anything at all by themselves. Once they encounter cells with the right receptors, they get ingested and (again only for the right types of cell) the internal machinery processes them in a way that makes more viruses.
I suppose you could think of that as “sensing” cells and “acting” to get inside and hijack them, but it’s a bit of a stretch and why I’m not sure that they should be included. From an information-processing point of view, I think of them more like passive info-hazards than active agents.
In principle, if something evolves, then I think it’s worth noticing. Also, recent events have shown just how impactful viruses can be. Which is interesting given how little they seem to do of:
‘collecting and organizing evidence to exert flexible influence over the future’
I think it’s fair to characterize them as ‘largely exploiting static features in the world’ - alas, we tend to create/are such things. And given our massive global success, things able to exploit what (weaknesses) we have in common can become quite formidable. For all our ‘immense’ differences, we aren’t so different after all.*
*Though I probably should look into the impacts of cultural variation.
Yes, I would have much less hesitation in viewing a virus species as a multi-bodied agent with evolution as a driving algorithm than a single virion as an agent.
‘Actions based on internal information’ seems as descriptive of bacteria, as it does of viruses. Are they usually less complex, or something?
Viruses are generally very much simpler than bacteria, yes.
My possibly flawed understanding is that most viruses don’t really do anything at all by themselves. Once they encounter cells with the right receptors, they get ingested and (again only for the right types of cell) the internal machinery processes them in a way that makes more viruses.
I suppose you could think of that as “sensing” cells and “acting” to get inside and hijack them, but it’s a bit of a stretch and why I’m not sure that they should be included. From an information-processing point of view, I think of them more like passive info-hazards than active agents.
In principle, if something evolves, then I think it’s worth noticing. Also, recent events have shown just how impactful viruses can be. Which is interesting given how little they seem to do of:
‘collecting and organizing evidence to exert flexible influence over the future’
I think it’s fair to characterize them as ‘largely exploiting static features in the world’ - alas, we tend to create/are such things. And given our massive global success, things able to exploit what (weaknesses) we have in common can become quite formidable. For all our ‘immense’ differences, we aren’t so different after all.*
*Though I probably should look into the impacts of cultural variation.
Yes, I would have much less hesitation in viewing a virus species as a multi-bodied agent with evolution as a driving algorithm than a single virion as an agent.