Virus
by
The polysemous virus carries a number of in-built contradictions for such a critical keyword. Yet it seems “intuitive” in all its senses, from malign to benign. Although virus is a keyword in diverse fields, from science and medicine to popular culture and technology, despite different meanings, the underlying concepts are similar: viruses suggest uncontrolled proliferation, as in the “viral” spread of disease and the “viral” contamination of computers. Even as the science of virology has progressed from earlier filtration studies in the 1890s, through the 1920s complement fixation, the 1940s tissue culture, the 1970s monoclonal antibodies, 1980s polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the current high throughput sequencing that can more accurately identify and isolate viruses, the meaning of the word has become diffuse. Etymologically, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), beginning with its Middle English roots in snake venom (from the Latin “slimy liquid poison”), it has mutated to suggest anything from “a living thing, too small to be seen without a microscope, that causes disease in people, animals and plants” or “an infection or disease caused by a virus” as in “He has a virus…” to “a harmful or corrupting influence” or a piece of corrupting code (OED...
This essay may be found on page 213 of the printed volume.