Rusty civilizations? This analogy does not map, at all.
This, from Sanford’s paper you cite, Information Loss: Potential for Accelerating Natural Genetic Attenuation of RNA Viruses
This raises the obvious question – if this is true, why have not all RNA viruses gone extinct?
There is a sound answer for this one. RNA viruses have not gone extinct because GE is not true.
The most likely explanation seems to be that such viruses are preserved in natural reservoirs where they are more stable.
There are hundreds of variants of any given virus extent in natural reservoirs. They are not more stable. Waterfowl take in influenza beak first and variants come out the other end.
In the case of retroviruses, we know they can persist indefinitely in their DNA form (within the host genome). In this form they have very low mutation rates.
Just when I thought it could not get anymore wrong. Besides, why are they even talking about retroviruses in regards to influenza?
For example, the H1N1 strain of influenza apparently went extinct for 20 years in the mid-twentieth century, but it is thought to have been resurrected from a researcher’s freezer in 1977, and is once again
circulating globally
Sure. Ancient cryogenic virus pods kept them fresh for the twentieth century.
There may be many ways that an RNA virus may be held in reserve for long periods of time in natural reservoirs
Maybe many many ways. Can’t think of more now, but there may be many many many ways. Maybe. Details to come. Maybe.
Sanford is selling that GE rendered H1N1 extinct in a single generation, yet somehow H1N1 remained potent down though all the generations of human history. The fact that H1N1 has persisted over that age does not just falsify GE, but further renders it incoherent. It is an Aristotelian A != non-A self contradiction. It is gibberish.