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Randall Munroe actually did a small section on eradicating the common cold in his What-if book, the basic idea is if that all of humanity stayed away from each
by Zircom 8y ago
Randall Munroe actually did a small section on eradicating the common cold in his What-if book, the basic idea is if that all of humanity stayed away from each other for a week or two then the common cold would die out as it can't survive outside of the human body for more than a week and normally survives by continuously hopping from host to host.
- AstralStorm 8y agoYou'd need to provide water for humanity for this period somehow. Water supplies have to be sterile and available. (That is assuming everyone goes on a week long secluded water fast. It's harder if not everyone can fast. There's a problem with keeping people in care but not insoluble.) That is just for rhinoviruses too, there are other viral reasons of common cold, more hardy than this, and bacterial diseases that mimic it very precisely.
- andreygrehov 8y agoHa, that's awesome. I think I know why Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars now.