The Dangerous Side of Evolutionary Change...

[Jacob(smooth)]

Medicine has evolved to the point that it wouldn't elevate to those levels though, right? I mean it seems like every couple years there's a new pandemic that's going to wipe us out, but it always falls short. Sars, West nile, mad cow, H1N1, blah blah blah.

I used to sit on an emergency planning committee for pandemic flu. Trust me, there is plenty to be afraid of. Not just in a 28 days later way either.

Do you know what percentage of the workforce has to be ill before infrastructure starts to collapse? It's tiny. I think it was like 14 percent. Civilisation is two meals from anarchy.

[Minimalist]

I used to sit on an emergency planning committee for pandemic flu.

Yeah...viruses are a whole other kettle of fish than bacteria. Lately we're having enough trouble with bacteria.

MRSA

[Anomalocaris]

When I saw the title of the thread I thought it was about the emergence of christianity.

[Minimalist]

[ThePinsir]

The CDC wasn't around back in the gap. We haz sanitation and immunization nao. Come at me, plague!

[TaraJo]

That's the coin flip, Tara. Yes. It could be less deadly or more deadly and we won't know until it happens.

Far worse though is that unlike in Justinian's time or the Black Death's time, we now have a marvelously developed international air travel web to spread diseases far more quickly.

On the other hand, we have better public health knowledge and systems - sanitation, isolation, diet, etc. that help contain the spread of diseases.

Might be a wash.

Maybe, maybe not. I mean, there are still diseases we can't exacty stop. We're still pretty much helpless against alzheimers, for example, and if you get HIV, you're never going to get rid of it and pancreatic cancer is pretty much a death sentence. Also, diseases are evolving to get past medical advances. MRSA, for example, kinda scares the shit out of me.

[Darkstar]

Civilisation is two meals from anarchy.

Don't tell EgoRaptor.