What makes us human?
Waaaaay back when I first started this blog, I was torn between two names for it:
On (or Close to) Schedule
Becoming Human
Obvs I chose the former, but I liked the latter because I felt that I didn’t really grow up like everyone else and wanted to be more…normal.
Just a few years after I started this blog, there was a British pilot that I enjoyed called “Being Human” – which became a series that was OK and was remade into a US series which was awful – that kinda drove this point home.
Both were about three monsters – a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost – that end up becoming roommates in London and they all tried to help each other, well, become human.
If nuthin else, this blog is all about me trying to figure out what it means for me to (a) be a human being that’s part of a larger society, (b) where I fit in, and (b) what I’ve figured out so far.
I’m still figuring stuff out.
Also, obvs.
Do you remember years ago when I told you that humans are only 43% human with the other 57% being, well, not human?
It turns out that 8% of human bodies are actually viruses. Think about how crazy that is – almost 10% of us are invaders that were probably trying to kill us…and some of them probably still are.
But, oddly, not all of them.
[R]esearch also suggests that [some viruses] could even be beneficial to people. The most famous [endogenous virus] embedded in human and animal genomes, syncytin, is a gene derived from an ancient retrovirus that plays an important role in the formation of the placenta. Pregnancy in all mammals is dependent on the virus-derived protein coded in this gene.
Which helps explain why they’re there in the first place. But I wonder if their presence can help explain some of the prevalence of cancer in animals.
Because, again, viruses, by-and-large, injure us more often than they help us.
So far, viruses have been conclusively linked to several cancers, including:
-
- Cervical cancer (nearly all cases)
- Anal cancer
- Oropharyngeal (throat) cancer
- Vaginal cancer
- Vulvar cancer
- Penile cancer
- Liver cancer (Hepatocellular carcinoma)
- Some non‑Hodgkin lymphomas
- Kaposi sarcoma
- Primary effusion lymphoma
- Merkel cell carcinoma
This isn’t an exhaustive list but those alone are pretty astounding.
Somehow, millennia ago, one of our ancestors got infected with a virus and it just made itself at home and stayed and this happened repeatedly.
It’s dangerous, I think, to let things that will most likely hurt us root and grow at all, let alone in us.
Not just viruses and bacteria.
Him: (in his room) I’m so dumb!
Me: What’d you say?
Him: I said, I’m so dumb.
Me: C’mere.
Him: (comes to my room) Are you mad?
Me: No, concerned. I need you to be more honest with yourself. You’re not dumb, so don’t say you are.
Him: Why not?
Me: Because. When you say things into the world – what I call, into the aether – you give them life. Don’t give untrue, cruel, lies life. It won’t help you and will only hurt you.
Him: OK, I’ll try.
Me: One more thing…
Him: What?
Me: Be nicer to yourself, ok? You’re my kid and I won’t let anyone be mean to my kid. Even you.
Like I said, it’s all a work in progress.
But I’m hoping I can tell the kid what I’ve learned and maybe he can tell his kid.
Then maybe someday, our family will actually make it and become fully human, whatever that means.
Location: all over Central Park, looking for a blue circle and a bevy of kids
Mood: anthropomorphic
Music: I’m on my knees looking for the answer (Spotify)
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