This is a HeadGum Podcast. I don't know what you think I don't know what to say

you're the got to right

yeah it's okay

I don't know anything.

Hello, welcome to factually, I'm Adam Conover.

And look, given the absolute devastation caused by coronavirus as I'm

recording this we've got 3 million cases and 130,000 people dead in the

United States alone you know we don't talk about the virus in very positive terms

right we're like the fucking coronavirus when's it going to end I hate this thing but

crucially and this is really interesting we also also, when we talk about it, we give it intent, right?

Like news reports describe it as insidious,

as though it's an evil genius which has probed human society

and biology to discover our weakest points and plot some kind of invasion.

We talk about the virus as moving undetected in our bloodstream before we show symptoms like

it's a cat burglar.

Humans can't help a personify this thing. I mean, that's what we do.

And since the novel coronavirus is doing such a good job at ruining lives, so our thinking goes,

well, it must know what it's doing. But of course, with the moments thought, we know

that's not the case. Coronovirus isn't smart in any conventional human sense. In fact, it's

dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. And like all viruses, it's dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

And like all viruses, it's extraordinarily simple.

Viruses are made up of just bits of genetic material,

...