could already have this massive swiss army knife of different ways to fuck us up.
It's exactly _because_ it just jumped, that it fucks us up. Given time, milder strains develop which are more adjusted to humans and adapt in the right places to cause less havoc.
Ubfortunately this is not true. Viruses evolve to survive and reproduce more, like anything subject to evolution. That can create less virulent strains and it can equally create more virulent strains.
A virus has no reason to adjust to our body in ways that cause less harm to us, unless doing so increases its chance of reproduction.
It's complex, agreed, but in general, increasing the chance of survival of the host correlates with better reproductive capabilities of the virus. This works both ways. After a particularly virulent strain has hit a population, those humans that survive are more likely to be adjusted to the strain, so it causes less problems for them.
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It's exactly _because_ it just jumped, that it fucks us up. Given time, milder strains develop which are more adjusted to humans and adapt in the right places to cause less havoc.
Ubfortunately this is not true. Viruses evolve to survive and reproduce more, like anything subject to evolution. That can create less virulent strains and it can equally create more virulent strains.
A virus has no reason to adjust to our body in ways that cause less harm to us, unless doing so increases its chance of reproduction.
It's complex, agreed, but in general, increasing the chance of survival of the host correlates with better reproductive capabilities of the virus. This works both ways. After a particularly virulent strain has hit a population, those humans that survive are more likely to be adjusted to the strain, so it causes less problems for them.