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Ok, time for a rant. If you looked at that table and went like "Oh, just 0.2% for me, great! No need to worry!" you are a terrible person. Even just at 0.2%,

by Iv 7y ago

Ok, time for a rant. If you looked at that table and went like "Oh, just 0.2% for me, great! No need to worry!" you are a terrible person. Even just at 0.2%, a billion people infected would result in more casualties than most recent conflicts. Eradicating diseases is possibly the most noble, the most obviously good behavior that humans can have. And here we have the opposite, people spreading it because of carelessness, because it is likely to not impact them too much, because their holiday plans are too important. Damn. And damned Hollywood for making people think that an epidemic has to kill a high percentage to be deadly. I am less afraid of hearing of an Ebola outbreak than about a new strain of seasonal virus that did not have any opportunities to combine with others yet.

jaas 7y ago
"If you looked at that table and went like "Oh, just 0.2% for me, great! No need to worry!" you are a terrible person." Or, with a bit more empathy, they just haven't put it in the right context yet. Any death from this is unfortunate, but many things can kill you and many people have accepted a low mortality percentage for lots of things. They may just initially perceive that smallish number as another one among many (e.g. the normal flu, biking). It may be a big number compared to other stuff, but it looks small and I can see how people might be dismissive. That doesn't make them terrible people, they just don't (yet?) have the perspective that you do.
henriquemaia 7y ago
I disagree. you're not a terrible person for thinking that. There's only so much you can do, and the disease and the deaths it leaves in its wake is totally out of the reach of your intention or actions. Worrying about something like that does not award you good person points. Actually, contributing to the general panic is far worse in terms of your real impact on what's going on. So, in this sense, you may be an actually worse person to think like you're proposing.

by Iv 7y ago

jaas 7y ago

"If you looked at that table and went like "Oh, just 0.2% for me, great! No need to worry!" you are a terrible person." Or, with a bit more empathy, they just haven't put it in the right context yet. Any death from this is unfortunate, but many things can kill you and many people have accepted a low mortality percentage for lots of things. They may just initially perceive that smallish number as another one among many (e.g. the normal flu, biking). It may be a big number compared to other stuff, but it looks small and I can see how people might be dismissive. That doesn't make them terrible people, they just don't (yet?) have the perspective that you do.

henriquemaia 7y ago

I disagree. you're not a terrible person for thinking that. There's only so much you can do, and the disease and the deaths it leaves in its wake is totally out of the reach of your intention or actions. Worrying about something like that does not award you good person points. Actually, contributing to the general panic is far worse in terms of your real impact on what's going on. So, in this sense, you may be an actually worse person to think like you're proposing.