

The unscientific origins of our obsession with viruses (1995) - nols
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118972/ebola-virus-obsession

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sytelus
TL;DR: There is a limit on viruses for how mach contagious, lethal and
resistance to treatments they could be. It's like CAP theorem - you can have
two of these but not all three. So this in essence, puts all the worries for
Ebola and other fiction-viruses like Andromeda strain able to wipe out
humanity to the rest and in the "unscientific" zone.

~~~
fabulist
I think its unwise to underestimate nature; what if a retrovirus went
undetected at it moved through a large portion of our population, then
suddenly turned lethal? Maybe it would be trivial to treat it, but it could
still be devastating.

~~~
sahyee
It could happen I suppose, Maybe the right approach is somewhere between
ignorance and hypervigilance?

