It's Like Interplanetary Travel When Bacteria and Viruses Spread

Whenever I watch someone sneeze or cough, I think of mankind attempting to settle on another planet.

Musk has an ambitious objective. He attempts to develop an effective approach to create a society on Mars. He wants to put the X on extraterrestrials; nevertheless, I’m not sure about his method because all his major pronouncements and antics are unanticipated.

The ones we remember are the successful ones. We forget the failures, but that’s nothing out of the norm. Anyone seeking to make great jumps previously never accomplished would constantly encounter the barren plain and dreary face of pessimism. Nobody will think it can be done.

Until it’s done.

Orville and Wilbur Wright encountered comparable problems until they proved the world incorrect. They were correct. I had to push the pun.

Their success is intertwined with the triumphs of Elon. When the world believes it's impossible, someone shows them wrong. I want to live long enough to witness such exploits.

As for going from one planet to another, I am more concerned with the tactics utilized by the first scientists and engineers—viruses and bacteria. Engineers because they capture energy utilizing the universal turbine—ATPase. The turbine, like the ones we see in hydroelectric dams, turns the flow of protons into energy in the form of ATP. Cells consequently build dams packed with hydrogen ions to permit the continuous passage of protons from one side of the barrier to the other.

Peter D. Mitchell was the genius who characterized this mechanism known as chemiosmosis. Interesting as it is, when he stuck to his convictions when the whole scientific world rejected his theories, the same tiny group of microorganisms captured a more complicated source of energy—you.

Yes, you!

You are the energy source they harnessed to go from world to planet. In other words, you are the planet on which these species thrive. And like the day when Musk ultimately lands the first colony on Mars, ideally, these miniature scientists and engineers will continue to descend on you at the correct ‘helipad’ or 'airstrip.’.

Genius, I tell you!

Uninvited visitors

That sneeze or cough, I tell you! velocity to leap from one planet—alias human being—to another. And when you least expect it, the palate begins feeling awful. Dry even when it’s not. That’s normally the welcoming signal from the bugs, all the while singing:

I hate to show up out of the blue, unannounced.

But I couldn’t stay away; I couldn’t resist it.

I had hoped you’d see my face.

And that you’d be reminded that for me, it isn’t over.

It’s the give-and-take connection we have with these viruses and bacteria. It isn’t over. It never will be. We live in a microbiological world. We are the tourists. They were the initial colonists. For billions of years, they altered the earth, and here we are, saying that we are its dominating species.

We are not.

Some parallels may be found. For instance, prokaryotes and viruses were the initial invaders of our planet. Assuming Musk succeeds in putting people on Mars, they will likely be the first settlers, that is, assuming there weren’t other microorganisms that preceded this initial batch.

A one-off event could be difficult to repeat. Elite basketball players too miss shots. Replicating another drop-off on the globe could be tough. The first successful contact, however, proves that it’s not impossible. Nevertheless, we concentrate too much on the Solar System when the connections are clear in our past.

Zoonoses are illnesses we get from animals. One of the primary sources of triumph among the early colonists was zoonoses. Smallpox, for instance, is hypothesized to have evolved from an animal. It jumped from one animal to humans, still another animal, but with the capacity to phonate its desires and experiences. After multiple cycles of death and survival, along with the introduction of variolation methods, people grew resistant to the illness. Today, smallpox is eliminated. It was, however, essentially the reason the Inca Empire was overthrown by the invading Spanish army.

Two factors to examine. First, the move from one planet—animal—to another planet—human. The second was the Spanish leaping into the area controlled by the Incas in South America. Queue in the bridge to Adele’s song at this point:

I hate to show up out of the blue, unannounced.

You know the rest.

The Spanish, the unwelcome visitors, demolished the empire. Unforgiving illnesses kill the host. They destroy their world. Mass fatalities documented during the COVID-19 outbreak are a fresh reminder.

Although the data is ambiguous, the several times infectious agents have leaped from animals to man support the likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 might have arisen from bats. I’m ambivalent about the source. My fascination is the transition from one place to another. This is a miniature equivalent of interplanetary transit.

Sadly for the Inca Empire, it was their last. They had the numbers but didn’t have the immunity. The land may have benefited the Spanish as our rich lands favor the infectious agents. Similarities between what the Spanish did and what viruses and germs do should make us modify our blame games.

Are the viruses and bacteria harmful, or do we give viable circumstances for them to survive? Are they not simply attempting to survive like humans do when presented with a threat?

These clashes may escalate to war. One entity has to lose. The viruses and bacteria may persist for some time, following the conventional sigmoid growth curve. But by the time it enters the plateau period, it has to find another home. Thus, it sings:

Who would have anticipated how bittersweet this would taste?

Now, why do I call them geniuses? Well, geniuses trust in themselves so strongly that they have confidence they will locate another planet. Furthermore, they utilize the planet’s strength to catapult them to their next home. This is the power of sneezing and coughing.

These drops are like the space shuttles we launch into space. With astonishing precision, they make their way into the respiratory systems of other planets—alias humans.

Geniuses I tell you!

What I’m trying to express is…

Before they go, they go through a sorrowful period, evocative of the lyric by Adele:

Never worry; I’ll find someone like you.

I hope nothing but the best for you, too.

“Don’t forget me," I implore.

I remember you saying

“Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”

“Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”