God is a hacker.
you might find this interesting. bubble theory imagines that interacting molecules, let's call them 'scripts', formed simple self replicating metabolisms inside the cavities of hydrothermal vents. At a script level there are two successful strategies: participate in a co-operative network or exploit a co-operative network to self replicate you. At a community level, excluding non-contributors is beneficial and this pre dates and perhaps leads to the development of cell membrane. In this view cells and viruses co-evolve from the same origin by pursuing different strategies.
It's game theory and tragedy of the commons from day one.
Piast, Radosław W. ‘Shannon’s Information, Bernal’s Biopoiesis and Bernoulli Distribution as Pillars for Building a Definition of Life’. Journal of Theoretical Biology 470 (7 June 2019): 101–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.03.009.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002251931...
>I read your comment as a reflection in the hideous cruelty of life, anyone studying biology or medicine beyond high school confronts the cold indifferent ugliness of nature
Perhaps my comment came off callously then. I made no value judgement, it was only the design that I meant to describe. Nuclear weapons are terrible things, but they are still technical works of art.