Parasitic ideas need to be helpful, or at least not too harmful, to the idea-organism in which they reside, but they can be very harmful to individual human beings. So long as they help (or do not badly harm) the idea-organism’s chances for survival and reproduction, they can cause all sorts of pain and death to their hosts. Since pain and death can be good motivators for people to believe things, this can be exactly the way they are helpful to the idea-organism in reproducing itself.

- God Wants You Dead
by Sean Hastings and Paul Rosenberg

Consider: Why don’t you eat insects? They’re a great source of protein and far less likely to confer lethal pathogens than the flesh of other mammals… is it because they’re icky?

Zombies are used metaphorically in many ways, and the word “zombie” has a history predating the horror movies we know so well. If you don’t mind the drooling and lumbering, “zombie” is a useful, specific monkey wrench in the tool box of language.

- Zombies! A Word That’s Always Lurching Around
by Mark Peters for GOOD
2009-09-04 05:19

Peters goes on to cite some novel incarnations of the “zombie” metonym – zombie cellphone botnets, zombie debt, and the zombie caterpillars and cockroaches parasitized by voodoo wasps.

As a fan of all things undead, I had been waiting to cover the zombie parasite angle (don’t want anyone thinking that I’m stealing ideas from Bruce Schneier’s Security Anecdotes from the Insect World theme). What’s that? You don’t read Bruce Schneier’s blog? You should.

So, at the end of the day, what makes the zombie metonym so attractive?

Do we, as participants in an economic and social system which outwardly rewards automation, stoicism, and compliance with societal norms, reflexively understand ourselves to be zombies of some variety?

Key point: This system outwardly rewards the automaton, however, the owners maintain ownership by transgressing the rules set forth for the hoi polloi – this dichotomy ensures that power is not rested easily: civilization‘s unwritten law.

When we declare ourselves to be dead inside, is there not an implicit assumption that – while the mind or soul may have taken leave – the body remains under the curse of some arcane Voodoo imprecation stronger than even Freud‘s Thanatos?

’cause you’re mine – You better stop the things you do, I ain’t lyin’…

Try to respond to all your child’s questions about death without distress or displeasure – or dishonesty. Many of them are likely to be difficult to answer – for example, “Will Grandma be able to see me when she’s dead?” – and your response will depend on your personal beliefs. Avoid telling your child fairy tales.

- 8 Ways to Prepare Your Young Child for a Grandparent’s Death
by Connie Matthiessen of Caring.com
2009-09-04

Bill Robinson: Well, she is over sixty-five, Helen, and old people can’t be trusted.

Bill Robinson: Ain’t that right?

Mr. Bottoms: Yeah, we’ve had a lot of trouble with old people.

- Fido (2006) Movie Quotes at IMDB.com
2009-09-18

Do we embrace the campy awkwardness of zombies because we must imagine ourselves their betters… or because we secretly fear their plight?

Avoid telling yourself fairy tales.

A new drug from China appears to be effective in getting rid of a number of intestinal worms, a problem that plagues more than a billion people around the world.

Worms cause anemia, weight loss among infants and malnutrition, and they can retard mental and physical growth. As a result, they can exact a huge economic burden on affected communities.

Making matters worse, over time these parasites have become increasingly resistant to the handful of available drugs, posing an urgent need to find new medicines to fight them.

- China tests new drug to fight intestinal worms
article at Yahoo News

What’s this about new drug-resistant parasites?

After entirely too much time spent reading and worrying about the likes of phylum platyhelminthes and phylum nematoda, and phylum apicomplexa, I have begun making comparisons between the natural world (in which parasites often thrive) and the abstract man-made realms which have yet to enumerate or adequately model evolved organisms (which is not to say that there are not already analogous slimy things which thrive).

I have encountered a constant stream of tangential ideas while studying these parasites (particularly parasitic worms), and I doubt that I will cover them all in this post.

My sincere thanks to Ovamed for adding unforeseen complexity to this issue by offering “mastery over parasitism”. Snopes remains ever doubtful, though it seems no surprise that the specious history of tapeworms as a patent medicine trend should re-emerge into the Zeitgeist as a pharma product.

The parasite’s infection vectors are many, though each species is confined to a seemingly-delicate lifecycle which requires multiple hosts to infect. Hardly delicate, though. This is a numbers game. The number of hosts which may be infected notwithstanding, the species requires only one successful gestation cycle to multiply its numbers dramatically.

The parasite’s infection/attack vector is often the path of least resistance. Being eaten allows immediate access to the host and the host’s ever-so-palatable internals, a remarkable (if oftentimes microscopic) Trojan Horse. Many species appear to use the host as both feeding and breeding ground, paralleling the activity of a viral agent, siphoning off the host’s resources to reproduce.

Interestingly enough, the parasite is often taking advantage of its host’s evolutionary advantage to further its own ends – upon being eaten, the parasitic organism awaits the consumption of its host to climb up a rung on the food chain, as is notably observed in the Taenia solium and Echinococcus granulosus species.

There is apparently no controversy over whether the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii actually influences its hosts to expose them to greater likelihood of being eaten.

T. gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to rather than fearful of the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat. The infection is almost surgical in its precision, as it does not affect a rat’s other fears such as the fear of open spaces or of unfamiliar smelling food. There has been speculation that human behavior may also be affected in some ways, and correlations have been found between latent Toxoplasma infections and various characteristics such as decreased novelty-seeking behavior, slower reactions, feelings of insecurity, and neuroticism.

Whether or not parasitic infections play any interesting cat-and-mouse games with human hosts remains a matter of conjecture and study. I would not be surprised if this influence is far more common than present science can readily understand.

Whether or not parasitic infections play the immune system of the host against each other … I expect that this behavior would be the logical result of evolutionary war games.

Groups of people are particularly vulnerable to parasitic behavior. Consider those who, lacking any impairment, beg for money by feigning disability.

Richard Dawkins posited that ideas replicate in a manner not unlike genetic material. The dissemination of propaganda (and the effectiveness of propaganda saturation on many individuals) has grown as propaganda has disguised itself with increasing effectiveness to mimic the face value and usefulness of factual information. (Consider the manipulation of the host species by Toxoplasma gondii)

How many opinions do we hold which have no value to ourselves? Were these opinions spread for the purpose of enriching others?

Does it not benefit the industry which sells food if each consumer carries a small cache of tapeworms?

This topic has certainly captured my interest … there will doubtless be more of this parasite drivel later.