COVID-19 as a Dispersed Organism: Host Manipulation and Psychosocial Impacts

Abstract

We have proposed the concept of dispersed organisms as a way forward to have a deeper understanding of
diseases and their eradication and also of evolution of life and of species. Taking COVID-19 as a dispersed
organism we investigate its impact in the sociological and psychological realms as a conscious force on
humanity to set it on the right track, both individually and collectively. The aftermath of COVID-19 is not
going to be a repetition of that of Spanish flu a hundred years back. The implications for mankind are going
to be profound. We discuss the well accepted notion of evolution of multicellulars from unicellulars and
propose that the case may not be of evolution from pathogens as such, but of building progressively better
quality nests by them, which we call the hosts for the pathogens. Infection of host is in reality only nesting
for the pathogen. This turns evolutionary hierarchy upside down.