What is the purpose of parasites?

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   mintinfoposted 10 years ago

   What is the purpose of parasites?
   
   

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   cmarie94posted 10 years ago

   They are an indicator of ecosystem health.

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   Insane Mundaneposted 10 years ago

   Easy answer: To bug the hell out of you...  Ha!

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      Copper Manposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      To quote Ogden Nash on Fleas:
      
      Adam
      Had 'em.

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      RighterOneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      LoL! Nice, guys...

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   Copper Manposted 10 years ago

   Like all living things, parasites have two main purposes: to survive and to procreate. A parasite probably does not conceive itself as being a parasite. Only the host may feel the imposition. Some parasites, of course, cause the death of their hosts, one way or another.
   There are those who see man as a parasite gradually dooming the host, Earth, as a place on which to survive.
   Conservation, anyone?

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   1. 59

      Insane Mundaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I thought mankind was considered a virus?  My Gawd, we have upgraded to the parasite level...  Woot-woot!

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      RighterOneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great answer!

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      Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Nope, viruses aren't animals and some don't even consider them to be living things.

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      SidKempposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Melissa - my understanding is different. I agree that viruses are on the edge of living/non-living. But, if alive, they fit the definition of animal - they don't photosynthesize, and live off other living things. But definitions change over time.

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   5. 95

      Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Animals must be multicellular, eukaryotic organisms that go through a developmental period. I think you are thinking of parasites. Viruses are not even really living things.

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      Insane Mundaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You guys are still talking about viruses?  I was using sarcasm when I commented about it; perhaps you need to study satirical subjects, instead...

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      SidKempposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Insane - We viruses are too dumb to understand sarcasm!

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      Insane Mundaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, some of 'em are... 

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      WalterPoonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well said, Copper Man, I can't put it better so I will pass on this one.
      
      Insane Mundane, you're right. Mankind is a parasite. It practically feeds on all other creatures in this world, not symbiotically but parasitically.

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   MatriKiranposted 10 years ago

   A parasite exploits another organism for the purpose of staying alive.

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      in4mativeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So, man is the ultimate parasite?

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   Iontachposted 10 years ago

   Population control! Yucky things like parasites, bacteria, viruses etc... are needed for controlling populations.

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      RighterOneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You sound like a Globalist... I'm sure you're not - I'm just pointing out a fact.

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      Iontachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      hahaha! Not at all, but it does seem so, right? Before medicine arrived the population was something like 2 billion and then it shot up exponentially all because of medicine. So ye probably for population control

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7. 57

   RighterOneposted 10 years ago

   A parasite is an Earth-borne life-form that can be an animal, a plant, a fungus, a bacteria - or even a virus (which is not even technically alive according to the standard text-book definition of 'alive/living').
   
   And, just like all other life-forms, its sole goal (or its purpose, as it were) is to survive, thrive, reproduce, and gradually evolve, genetically.
   
   Despite of how it might seem, a parasite's purpose is NEVER to kill or harm the host!

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      AlexK2009posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If I am right there are parasites that prey on wasps. They lay eggs in the wasp which hatch inside and eat the  wasp from the inside then break out to find a new wasp. 
      
      Killing or harming the host depends on whether the parasite can reproduce first

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      RighterOneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You are absolutely right. I was thinking my answer over and came to that same conclusion. What makes a parasite 'parasitic' is that it doesn't concern itself with the well-being of the host. The primary drive is to procreate at any cost...

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   SidKempposted 10 years ago

   Putting together what I see here: Purpose always is in a context.
   
   The parasite's own purpose is to survive, even at a cost to its host.
   
   The ecosystem creates a purpose for parasites - prevention of over-population by a species that is not being regulated by a carnivore above it on the food chain.
   
   Human civilization, as a whole, is currently operating in a parasitic way in relation to Gaia, the living planet Earth. This is because we think and live on a survival level. Each human being who learns to think on a level and live of cooperation (commonly called Love) creates an expression of human life that is not parasitic, but symbiotic. If all of humankind learns to do this, then the resulting Gaia-human system will be a whole greater than the sum of its parts. That will be beautiful when it happens. Till the, we can each make it happen in our own lives.

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      mintinfoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, purpose as if a parasite had a brain. Does my question look out from its perspective or like everything on this Earth, we define purpose? The question is philosophical and analitical.

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      SidKempposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      A brain is not the issue. Epistemologically, purpose is related to function, and functional result. Any system can be seen as having a purpose. A parasite is a system within a larger pair-system and an even larger ecosystem. 3 levels of purpose.

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   JimTxMillerposted 10 years ago

   What is the purpose of any life form---------------------------?

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    KenDeanAgudoposted 10 years ago

    Some parasites kills other parasites too. Everything has a role in this world to sustain and maintain equilibrium.
    
    1. Food for other animals.
    2. Eat dead cells of animals
    
    But mostly parasites have more negative effects.

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