h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A radiologist who specializes in skull and spine imaging is quite an honorable job but I still wouldn't put him in charge of a pandemic response, especially if his advice is "let everyone get sick.. you know, herd something something and all that."


(If you weren't aware already, President Big-Brain put Scott Atlas, a specialist as described above, in charge of our COVID-19 response because he saw him on his favorite echo chamber news outlets and thought this "herd immunity" idea would get him re-elected.

Well over 300,000 dead and counting.

Like I said: A with a proper degree.

I would not trust the best dentist when it comes to Covid-19.

Tonight I learned that one of my neighbors caught Covid-19 in a bar, and passed it on to his parents, one of whom just died.

I just toook my temperature. It's still perfectly normal.

That's my biggest concern, that I catch it and bring it home and lose one or both my parents. I haven't been out socializing, hardly at all, and the couple of times I did, it was at a local brewery that's never packed and has outside tables.

I miss people. I miss drinking with people.

You and the rest of the world. My neighbor is a careless idiot. Who knows where this will lead?

1.43% of all tests done here showed covid-19 and we seem to be back on the right track after a few days with record breaking numbers which forced our government to introduce stricter rules. Only food stores and pharmacies are open, everything else - like malls, bars restaurants etc. - is closed.

Out of 5.6 million living here 1.035 have died. This number may be doubled, maybe even tripled before the vaccines come into effect. Vaccinations should start any day now.

We can't rule out the chance that some populations have higher resistance than others. Immune systems are mind-bogglingly complex, but in general the more diversity there is in your DNA, the better chance you have at fighting infections. Another factor is having ancestors who survived repeated infections by microbes that crossed from animals to people. Most of my ancestors lived with animals -- horses, cows, etc.

The people who crossed the Bering Strait from Asian to Alaska brought no animals with them, and didn't have close animal companions once they got here. So, even though they had good health habits and were generally in good health, when the Europeans came, the Smallpox and other diseases that had crossed from animals were foreign to their immune systems, which could not mount a proper response.

Finally, there are individual factors. Some individuals are exceptionally strong. An example: the mother of president John Adams. Susanna Boylston Adams survived diseases that killed many others. It is thought that John inherited her strength. Another family with exceptional strength was the Rockefellers. William Rockefeller lived to be 97. His son, J D, lived to be 98. J D 's grandson David lived to be 101.

But, a lot of mysteries remain.

The seemingly one way transfer of plagues from Europe to the Americas and how this is tied to the domestication of animals is the subject of one of my favorite YouTube channel's videos.

Americapox: The Missing Plague http://youtu.be/JEYh5WACqEk

I watched both videos. Thanks.

There was *some* domestication in the New World. Apparently, guinea pigs, turkeys, ducks, and dogs were domesticated. It wasn't just llamas. What I don't know is how widespread this was.

But maybe not many diseases could spread from dogs, guinea pigs, or turkeys to humans.

And, bats are in the mix. Nobody domesticated them, but their diseases can be destructive.

And, I'm drifting off-topic.

From a comment I made in 2012 when we had "survived the Mayan Calendar" so to speak:

"A mutating virus may one day kill off all humans on this planet so the World Health Organisation had every right to be anxious about H1N1. Recent reports show that at least 284000 people died from swine flu - it is estimated that the number may even be twice as high. Not more than "regular" flu epidemics kill, but: During WWI the Spanish flu killed 50 million. It actually killed more soldiers than the bullets, grenades and shrapnels did."

Some 20 years ago I heard a quite lengthy but fascinating program on my car radio about the bird flu in Hongkong in 1997: I just found a source that tells the story:

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/29/hong.kong.chickens/

I'm sorry if my former posts are too upsetting for some. I'm not here to upset people. I'm just trying to deal out basic facts that you will have to deal with whether you know about them or not.

Personally, I take it easy. Should the worst happen I have to admit that I believe Earth is better off without humans. Life will continue without us. Maybe not on this planet which we have polluted badly and still do without enough people being aware of it and doing something about it. Heck, a scary number of people are in total denial!
But nature always finds a way out. That's why the dolphins will sing "so long, and thanks for all the fish" when *we* are leaving

I am fascinated by science.

I will check out your latest link later, Pierre/Pierce.

Given that the conditions on any moon / planet within reach is much less hospitable than Earth (even a polluted Earth), I propose we try to use the energy needed to relocate for saving Earth instead.

(Just a thought)

I agree, Caiman Raptor Elk.

Plus, in order to get to other planets, we would need to burn large amounts of fuel that could be used here. When I want to step out into a hospitable environment, I prefer it to be on the other side of my front door..

If that makes me lazy, then I am no lazier than seven billion other people on the planet, not to mention the other lifeforms.

Would you expect a bird or privet bush to want to adapt to an alien environment if the option of staiyng put was avalable?

re post 474:

My kind of thinking exactly!

I'm not saying that we should stop exploring and if people want to live on Mars that's fine with me also - as long as I won't have to pay for it

When I think of colonies on Mars, all I can think of is Matt Damon growing potatoes, thanks to that movie ("The Martian").

"Should the worst happen I have to admit that I believe Earth is better off without humans. Life will continue without us." [Pierre de la Mar]

I don't think we are *especially* stupid, nor inherently worse for the planet than other species. We got lucky with our opposable thumbs, and biggish crania, and penicillin and atomic power. If we were still a few hundred million strong, I think the earth could tolerate us. But 7 billion? No way!

The tricky bit is that very few of us would want to volunteer to be among the 6.5 billion who were deleted to save the planet.

I believe we are inherently worse for the planet than other species. We have killed off more species than nature ever did - except maybe for a comet or asteroid or whatever it was. What other species have done anything remotely like that?

We may be able to reduce our carbondioxide in the atmosphere to natural levels again and clean all the oceans of plastic and what else we have dumped in them.

But will we?

I think I read somewhere that Earth can easily nourish 9 billion people - if we share.

And the late Swedish statistician Hans Rosling believed that the population explosion had actually stopped. As societies evolve to higher eco-economic levels, they stop giving birth to more children than are needed.

So that's not where the problem lies.