system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do viruses often kill or weaken their host (humans, animals, etc.)? Wouldn't they want their host to live as long as possible so they could survive as long as possible?
gpt
They're not self aware. They're essentially different codes of RNA that lock into receptors on host cells and produce a negative outcome when that cells processes are messed with by the new code. The bad ones we know about are just "lucky" enough to have won the genetic lottery to where they happened to end up with genetic code that's makes them easily passed on, causing bad symptoms or death, etc. In fact the even luckier ones like herpes do exactly what you said, they last in the host indefinitely without killing it. But there is no malice, thought, or animal drive behind it. They're just tiny complex keys fitting into tiny complex locks and producing horrible effects when they match up with the right lock.