sfurbo
sfurbo t1_jboxrx0 wrote
Reply to comment by Awwkaw in I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt
Viruses require very specific environments to reproduce (the inside of the right kind of cell), but so does humans. Put humans in 2000 degrees, and they won't reproduce. Put them in the vacuum of space, and they won't reproduce. Without food, humans won't reproduce. Without water, humans won't reproduce. How is that fundamentally different from viruses?
A much more convincing argument for viruses not being alive is that they don't have a metabolism.
sfurbo t1_itpi3h3 wrote
Reply to comment by MaikuTachibana in Women will have equal share of seats in [New Zealand] Parliament with Soraya Peke-Mason's swearing-in by giblefog
> By all definitions it's discriminatory but I'd argue it's a necessary evil, once we've dispelled the myth about women in the workplace being someway inferior to men based on nothing but their sexual organs or gender, there will be no more need for quotas and affirmative action, but until then it's necessary to manually match the numbers because if we didn't then they'd forever be skewed > > Honestly the best way to dispel prejudice is exposure and normality, so it's 100% necessary for now to have affirmative action
That only works if the quotas are applied on the level where the prejudice works. If there are fewer women in a particular role because prejudice keeps women from getting the qualifications for that role, quotas will ensure that the women who get the role will, on average, be less competent than the men - simply because selecting the same number from a smaller pool necessitates selecting less competent people. This will only reinforce the prejudice.
So careful analysis of the cause of the skewedness is needed before quotas are a good idea.
I don't know whether they have done that analysis here, so this isn't directly a criticism of this policy, but it seems like the necessary analysis is rarely done before quotas are enacted.
sfurbo t1_jbq50cl wrote
Reply to comment by Awwkaw in I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt
The virus can reproduce, it just requires a very specific environment to do so, including specific molecules that are only produced by other life, such as ribosomes.
Humans require very specific environments to survive, including a long list of chemicals that are only produced by other life, such as vitamins.
The requirements for the virus are a lot more specific, but there is nothing fundamentally different in them.