My situation last week, coupled with the collapse of the stock market, pointed to one conclusion to me: the answer is not very smart at all. Or at least, not very smart when it comes to knowledge and handling of infectious diseases. I know, you think I’m not being fair. Not everybody is a sci-fi writer. Not everybody was forced to sit through three biology classes and one physiology class in high school and college. Not everybody is the daughter of a retired teacher and spouse of a computer technician working in a school (where disease prevention is a big deal). Not everybody is a nerd like me.
It doesn’t matter. If you interact with the public, there’s no excuse to not know you need to wash your hands, cover your sneezes and coughs, and stay home when you’re sick. You don’t need in-depth knowledge of viruses to understand that their sole purpose is to reproduce, and the only way to prevent an epidemic or pandemic is to cut off contact with other hosts while it’s contained. Viruses are parasites. Their nature is to spread so they can survive. That’s what they do.
I know, why should you care if you’ve already had it? Well, here’s another fact: viruses mutate, and can come back to you and everybody you love. Maybe not right away. Those antibodies may protect you for a few weeks or months. But soon, all bets are off and the virus won – again. Mutation leads to evolution, but it might not be the kind you like.
Frankly, I find the panic over Coronovirus amusing, because the fast is that it’s too late to stop it. The time to put an end to this pandemic was three months ago, when it was confined to Wuhan. It’s all over the world now. It’s too late. All you can really do is pray.
I hope this is a lesson to everybody to act on what they know. Proper hygiene and personal care is something that must happen every day because we don’t really rule this planet. We live in unity with everything, and if you aren’t careful then the parasites will run wild. I mean that literally and figuratively.
No, we aren’t as smart as we think. I see now why there’s so much fear that artificial intelligence will dominate us in the future. It’s completely possible that our creation will surpass us solely due to the fact that it doesn’t have the mental defenses holding it back that our organic minds do.
That’s all today. Have a great rest of the week, and good luck against the viruses.
Bye!