"...I only ever come to the conclusion that a final knowledge of all viruses is simply impossible."
I absolutely agree. I also think that there are trillions, or even more viruses (individual particles, not species) in every human corpus. The vast majority of them are probably simply incidentally present, and have no infectious or pathogenic interaction with our bodies, because we ate something or breathed them in. Viruses aren't all pathogens. They're not alive. They don't eat or breathe, grow, or have any ability to reproduce themselves except as they are able to hijack life. It's actually likely in my estimation that some viruses are able to interact with non-living chemical processes to reproduce, but that's highly speculative, and just reflects the complexity of the universe.
It's just that some mechanisms exist that reproduce themselves, like a pantograph enables an image or item to be reproduced. The pantograph isn't alive, and the user isn't a pathogen.
"The theory of competition cannot exist without the theory of cooperation."
I also agree with this. I point out that life is an act of war because it helps me to dispel insuperable and irrational speculation regarding spirituality. It is clearly demonstrable that fungi and plants cooperate in the sharing of essential nutrients in ecosystems, for example. There is a network in the soil of mycelial hyphae and plant roots that trade sugar for various resources.
If a combatant has no allies, they are likely to lose, however.
All that being said, all life is one living thing, and each extant cell today is connected to that primordial life that originally became able to reproduce by an unbroken chain of living cells, each the daughter of it's parent. Every bacteria, tree, and person is so connected to that original cell. There is only one organism on Earth, it is immortal, and we are all part of it.
Be well.
The question is, why do you want to dispel them? If you delete the word "irrational" before the word "speculations" and instead of "speculations" speak of "worldviews", the tone of the statement changes, no?
The rejection of the spiritual on the basis of an assumed irrationality involves an exclusion up to the point of offending all those who perhaps do not want to prove such a thing, but do want to accept it in the certainty that they are reaching the limits of their understanding. If the rejection remains mutual, both world views lose meaning and do not contribute to finding peace in the mind.
It would be easier for me not to see a contradiction in what you say in the following, which for me still exists in your elaboration.
I believe life is sacred, and humanity specially so. I have spiritual beliefs and understanding, but there is little empirical evidence I could point to in support of such belief. Because of the limitations on scientific evidence, spiritual beliefs are difficult to rectify with supporting evidence that reasonable people can agree on, and such disagreements as arise from that circumstance are all too common and prevent agreements on matters that can be supported by evidence. It is not my intention to dismiss spirituality itself as irrational and insuperable, but spiritual beliefs occasionally drive people to reject reasonable and fact based understanding because of the strongly held nature of spiritual beliefs.
I note my belief life is sacred exceeds the limits of my actual understanding, which is a very small realm because we are quite limited in our ability to perceive reality, at least. If I can only reach agreement with that subset of people that completely agree with my spiritual beliefs, I will forever be in disagreement with all of humanity.
We can all agree on some very general and reasonable things, that people of utterly disparate spiritual beliefs can all work to achieve for our mutual benefit, despite that various spiritual traditions cannot be reconciled and today prevent people from working together, such as Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir. I seek to foster agreement on things that reasonable people can agree on evidence for, and can work together towards mutual goals based on such agreement, rather than splintering our number and preventing us from surmounting our mutual challenges by supporting each other.