What is a mind virus?

A while ago, Elon Musk tweeted something about the “woke mind virus.” He later explained that what he was referring to was a bit different than the subsequent concept I will explain, but the amount of thought I put into three words is still worth an article.

So, before we can understand what a mind virus is, we must understand what a virus is.

A virus is a protein skeleton with RNA inside of it that instructs it to invade a host cell, and replace the cell’s genetic information with its own, which will cause the cell to produce more of the virus. If the host cell is part of a larger organism, say, a human, the virus has varying effects on its host, causing things such as a runny nose, a cough, internal bleeding, fever, sore throat, and death. The virus’s reproduction is not perfect, and results in small changes in its genes, which are called mutations.

A computer virus is software that acts in a similar way, but instead of having a host cell, it has a host computer. The computer virus infects the computer, modifies it in some usually malicious way, sometimes uses it to spread to other computers, and sometimes mutates (although not always, which would make those situations not exactly viruses).

The virus of the mind has all of these traits as well.

Like other viruses, a mind virus:

1. Is reliant on a host to exist and propagate itself.

2. Affects its host in some way.

3. Imperfectly propagates, and therefore changes over time.

A mind virus is a particular kind of idea or ideology, not just any old thought, but one that compels its host to spread it to other people. Instead of its host being a computer of a cell, its host is a mind.

An interesting effect of these mind viruses is that they, as a product of their mutation, evolve in a way very similar to actual viruses, as only the ones that have a certain grip on the human mind will survive and spread, even if they don’t actually have a positive effect on their hosts. It is important to note that some mind viruses actually can be positive, they are not inherently bad.

Christianity, for instance, is a mind virus. It is an ideology that causes its hosts to spread it, and it mutates over time, becoming Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy. It is one of the most successful mind viruses ever, as it has infected billions of minds throughout history.

Frankly, all religions, political ideologies, many philosophies, and even passion for some hobbies can be considered mind viruses.

Factors that make you susceptible to these mind viruses include things other than reason (emotion), so I strongly recommend you think about an infectious idea carefully before letting it enter your head, because, like their digital and biological counterparts, mind viruses can be incredibly destructive.

As for the woke mind virus, there has been some confusion over what the word “woke” means, but it is essentially just far-left. The far-left mind virus happens to be particularly contagious and mutates very quickly, which is evident in all the changes in the 2slgbtqia+ acronym.