Understandings of the nature or inherent workings of molecular life in the field of biopolitical security studies have today been characterized predominantly in terms of contingency. This article challenges this characterization. It does so by identifying a particular logic of operation that organizes political action and intervention at both the level of the population and the molecular in response to the threats of smallpox, Ebola and pandemic influenza. It argues that, in fact, rather than securing by instantiating a general economy of the contingent, governing practices rely upon the characterization of the nature of molecular life in terms of its constant biological dynamics. Governments around the world, and the US government in particular, have reacted to the increased likelihood of the emergence of disease through the stockpiling of new pharmaceuticals, including the antivirals ST-246, ZMapp and Tamiflu. Antivirals represent a pharmaceutical tool stockpiled by governments to ensure that they can respond to the emergence of novel biological threats. The characterization of the nature of molecular life in terms of its constant biological dynamics is so important, then, as it is this that underpins political programmes of preparedness that utilize antivirals in the prevention of disease.

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具有挑战性的偶然性：病毒和分子生命的本质

在生物政治安全研究领域，对分子生命的本质或内在运作的理解今天主要以偶然性为特征。这篇文章挑战了这种表征。它通过确定特定的运作逻辑来实现这一目标，该逻辑在人口和分子层面组织政治行动和干预，以应对天花、埃博拉和大流行性流感的威胁。它认为，事实上，治理实践不是通过实例化可能发生的一般经济来确保，而是依赖于分子生命在其恒定的生物动力学方面的性质的表征。世界各国政府，尤其是美国政府，通过储备新药，包括抗病毒药 ST-246、ZMapp 和达菲，对疾病出现的可能性增加做出了反应。抗病毒药物代表了政府储备的一种药物工具，以确保它们能够应对新生物威胁的出现。因此，根据其恒定的生物动力学表征分子生命的性质非常重要，因为正是这一点支撑了利用抗病毒药物预防疾病的政治准备计划。