Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Global warming is too abstract, hard to reason by some due to the distance of cause and effect.

Car driving fatality is fairly bounded. 124 ppm/year in USA.

Coronavirus 19 has the possibility to mutate and keep waving over the world, killing an unbounded number of people, which is downright terrifying. The best-case estimate of fatality is 5000 ppm and >50% of Americans getting it, that's 20x more deadly than cars.



That's substantially less deadly than cars. 20 years of car crashes are equivalent to this virus, and we've had and will continue to have a lot more than 20 years worth of car crashes. 5000ppm by your estimate die once, and then the virus probably stops being a problem.

We can have some faith that this virus is a one time event because

- A vaccine will probably be invented before long.

- Effective treatment will probably be discovered.

- If there is no vaccine and no treatment for some reason. You probably can't catch it twice, maybe everyone gets it once, but after that only kids get it, and kids don't die from it anyways.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: