Whats more dominant hmm let me see...
We can live without viruses, they need a host to survive. They are completely dependent on us for survival. Well animals as well.
Yeah, and we are completely dependent on plants and animals for our survival as well. So going by your logic, they are more dominant than we are. Saying that being dominant is defined by who needs who more is redundant. Lions depend on meat of other animals to survive; without it they starve. And yet, most biologists would say that lions are at the most dominant species since they are at the top of the food chain.
I would say humans are easily the most dominant because we literally change our environment to suit ourselves. If we feel like living in the fucking desert, we just pipe in water and air conditioning and there you have it.
This is a value-judgement you are making: a complete opinion based on an arbitrary criteria and nothing more. Sure, we can live in any environment due to our technology and viruses can't, but this is not a criteria that Nature uses to determine dominance. Dominance is defined by reproduction and by which species can manipulate organic resources better for reproduction. Viruses and bacterias are more dominant than we are because their biomass(the combined weight of all viruses and bacteria) is several times greater than ours, and they can manipulate us for their reproductive advantage much better than we can. In fact, we don't use viruses and bacteria at all to aid in our survival - except for symbiotic bacteria in our gut -, but they sure as hell uses us, and they kill us by the millions every year and there is nothing we can do to stop them.
Since when do viruses live outside a living host? That's right, they don't...
Since when can Humans live without animals and plants? Going by your logic, then they are more dominant than we are since we need them but they don't need us. A plant can use sunlight to create sugars via photosynthesis and live for itself, but we need to feed on plants or animals that feed on plants to survive. So who is more dominant? This is a terrible criteria for dominance. We are dominant over plants even though we need them a lot more than they need us because we use them for our reproductive advantage to a much greater degree than they use us; likewise, viruses and bacteria are dominant over us even though they need us much more than we need them because they use us for their reproductive advantage much more than we use them.
Also if we truly wanted to, we could wipe out any virus on the planet. Just takes money and time.
Do you really think that if all it took to wipe out every virus and bacteria are money and time, that pharmaceutical companies wouldn't have done it a long time ago? Do you have any idea how much money there is to be made on an AIDS or Flu vaccine? We are talking not even billions, but potentially trillions of Dollars here. Not only are we unable to defeat most viruses and bacteria, but the ones we can are growing resistance to our antibiotics and making a comeback killing millions of people.
In truth, what determines a species dominance I would think would be ability to colonize and change the environment.
This is a completely arbitrary definition of dominance. Cockroaches can live in any environment and yet they are food in all environments. Cockroaches are dominant, though, because there are so many of them even though they are eaten so often. And they are dominant over us because they use us for their own reproductive success - we are a great source of food - more than we use them.
Not to mention we eat literally everything- plants, animals, ourselves...We can eat anything and live anywhere and change our surroundings to suit ourselves. Pretty much it.
But before you said that viruses were not dominant over us because they need us. Well, we need plants and animals, so are they dominant over us? See how foolish the criteria you are using is? I can say that viruses are dominant over us because they "eat" us and we can't stop them. But you are agreeing with me: we are dominant over plants and animals because we use them for our reproductive advantage much more than they use us. Likewise, viruses and bacteria are dominant over us because they use us for their reproductive advantage much more than we use them, and they are the most dominant species because the biomass of viruses and bacteria is hundreds of times greater than that of all plants and animals combined.
SUCKMYMUSCLE
