Neophobic or neophilic is, coronavirus, why ‘wild’ India playing possum and hen versus hen harrier fear

We must elaborate our search and must try to understand the evolutionary intricacies of ‘neophobic’ and ‘neophilic’ aspects of novel coronavirus.  Although the strict ethological principles or models of invertebrate or vertebrate we cannot apply to a virus, but evolution doesn’t differentiate a virus from a whale because both have the same biological necessity to survive and hence would perform all essential biological activities such as injection, digestion of food (assimilation), excretion and finally procreation. 

To achieve the above objectives, all life form adapt either predation mode of survival, parasitism or as decomposer or scavenger niche.  The question is how the different life forms have evolved and may evolve over time?  Do any species ever evolve to explore entire world and in such exploration, would try to eliminate a particular species that is so dominant on earth – Homo sapiens? 

How do the new species evolve; with neophobic or neophilic traints? 

Neophobic (hate newness) species are bound to show endemic property and the extinction of such species is also quite easy and if not, would often get restricted to a particular host and would try to remain in the same niche.

 

On the other hand, if the organism, imagine, have evolved with neophilic traits (love newness), love to explore and experience all that is new around them, then such organism is likely to have a greater adaptability, adjusting ability, can go violent or benign at times,  can be friendly or inimical, however will be social and spreading.

It looks like the novel coronavirus appears to follow the second order where it is quite neophilic (love newness), social, and highly enterprising and colonizing.   The fundamental question is, are we the Homo sapiens (wild Indians, those who are not higher echelons) without understanding the above evolutionary possibility i.e., adaptive variation of neophobia; neophobia threshold hypothesis (NTH) and the dangerous niche hypothesis (DNH), are exhibiting and displaying shock, agog and feigning death before the virus. 

Many animals when are helplessly cornered by the predator, feigning death or would engage in ‘playing possum’ means, acts as if they are dead. The animals also then would emit the odour of a dead animal and naturally the predator would avoid such putrefied prey.   Such animal behaviour is also called ‘tonic immobility or thanatosis.  

  

Today the lockdown has killed people much before the virus could enter our system and our total loss of livelihood may generate boundless mercy in virus to leave us and go away.  Even such mercy of the virus, Modi can claim as his victory and can use it for his political mileage. 

We must realize that every species evolved in nature is law abiding except man.

We are scared of neophiles because of their relative success over many other species that we know so far. Further neophiles are relatively luckier, have greater resistance to changes and hence possibly produce more variants or mutants in order to enhance the survival chance.   After man, the coronavirus is the first life form ever evolved as super-neophile and smartly utilizing ‘abundant human resource’ in the world as its opportunity to survive and be successful. 

If we follow the heretical view that our life is rather a dumb luck festival of neo-Darvinian algorithm of success, man is bound to miss the science and likely to latch onto ‘GOD’ to rescue him from the neophile- novel coronavirus, may impose lockdown, impose social distancing norms, instruct people to use of mask, order people to frequently wash hands, impose idiotic quarantine procedures and may force people to live in containment zones to eliminate the virus. 

The government also has legitimized imprisonment and slavery law over people to ‘dumb’ the free running virus in our society?  What a pitiable science and Andher Nagari ( अँधेर नगरी rule we are forced to follow and celebrate to eliminate the virus?

Neophiles seldom follow the ‘law of nature’ only initially, but with time, would succumbs to the evolutionary realities and the instinct to survive, turns to go friendly than hostile, provided we familiarize the new ecosystem quickly than make the environment so neophobic to the neophile, bring more discomforts to the virus and the combat the virus and finally allow the war to continue than settle.  We have already made many people economically and psychologically weak warriors; factorize them with the above engine to fight the virus. 

What the world is doing exactly today is fighting a war with novel coronavirus thinking as if, humans are chickens and the coronavirus in hen harrier or crested serpent eagle. 

Neophiles are experimenters, unsettled species, not fully favoured by the evolution and hence ‘wonder around’ mostly with fear and hope to quickly settle.  But we the human being are not allowing the virus to settle.

From the evolutionary perspective, the novel coronavirus has not yet identified its final host, behaves neophile because it is clueless, might have born well before its purpose and role are scripted well, left in the middle to act its role all alone by the evolution and hence may be making circuits and circumventing all norms, behaves like a creeper, lianas, floater or banyan etc.   

We must interact with the virus, live with the virus and let the virus to shed its fear.  In the process, some of may die, let us accept the eternal truth that we are not born with the boon of immortality or after consuming sanjeevi booti, death is certain, it can happen due to coronavirus or by any other means.  It looks like coronavirus has not come to kill man. 

No neophiles will ever target the most dominant species on earth to kill or eliminate but only to exploit the same for its survival as they see the most dominant species on earth - man as its opportunity.  But we, the human being only appears to have written a new narratives that the coronavirus has come to kill man, eliminate him from the terra firma, therefore we must eliminate the virus at any cost. 

What a bizarre approach we have adopted so far? Thousands die every day due to road or air or rail accidents, natural calamity, due to various diseases etc.  Could we stop all those deaths?  Can we eliminate the virus by locking down the country and freezing people, kill the livelihood of millions…. to save them from coronavirus? 

Today our government is sermonizing to people that Indians must learn to live with the virus?  Did people ever say they would refuse to live with the virus, did people say they would not learn how to live with the virus?  What lesson Modi has taught the people through senseless lockdown?  What the lockdown has achieved for India except destruction of our economy, livelihood and life of many poor people?

How do we know we have saved so many lives through lockdown?  Do we know several people would have died due to coronavirus but the lockdown has saved?  Has the government got any letter of confirmation in this regard from Lord of death YAMA? 

When someone contracts the virus, we have concluded, death to be certain.  How many people are living happily with cutaneous TB but without any lung infection?  How many people have survived after being attacked by many deadly pathogens? 

Modi has destroyed the economy of our country, life and livelihood of many, made several labours ‘refugees’, impecunious, and orphans, left alone to fend…. How cruel and heartless was our government towards all those poor people who elected this government to power with such majority to crush their freedom, dignity, livelihood ….. even their natural justice?

India must wake-up, must preserve the pain and agony afresh till 2024 and must elect a weak, coalition government to save our democracy and federal structure.  We need freedom and independence and not lockdown and dictatorial rule.    

   

Corona or its sister or brother or other members of its family let come in future.  But we cannot lose our independence and dignity due to corona or any other pathogen in future.  It looks like government is playing politics with coronavirus. 

Indians are wild.  We have been living in very poor and unhygienic conditions, living with several pathogens including those neglected third world microbes, living with several debilities, living with one meal a day, living on the street, what is our problem in living with coronavirus?   The virus will not be as bad and as harmful as lockdown and dictatorial rule.