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This is an unprecedented measure. I can understand the need to do everything possible, but there are other costs. Shutting down rural areas could shut down food

This is an unprecedented measure. I can understand the need to do everything possible, but there are other costs. Shutting down rural areas could shut down food supplies, which we're already seeing with seasonal fruit pickers in Europe. COVID-19 becomes critical in people because their immune system overacts and ends up hurting living cells. If they recover, it's just some dead bloodcells and they can be replaced. When our society starts overrating with out social immune system, people die. I wrote about this hidden cost last week: https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/covid-19-is-two-diseases/ https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/covid-19-is-two-disease...

cowpig 7y ago
This is dangerously false (we don't yet know what the long-term effects of COVID-19 will be). How do I flag this for moderator removal?
- djsumdog 7y ago
  Did you read the article? It's my blog post. I wrote it. Instead of just saying it's dangerously false, explain why. Let's have a discussion instead if you jumping the flag button. There are already cases in Europe where fruit is rotting because no one is available to pick it. If the country shuts down like Gates suggest, there are lots of secondary effects that can injure people. It's just like COVID-19, in someone's immune system, overreacting and killing more cells when it doesn't need to. That should not be acceptable in our society.
  - cowpig 7y ago
    There's no evidence to suggest that people who recover from COVID-19 have "only dead blood cells" that can "just be replaced". There is a bunch of evidence that it can cause scarring in peoples' lungs, and it's unclear what other long-term effects there will be.
    - djsumdog 7y ago
      That wasn't what I was implying at all!! In your immune system, it can kill off bad cells and that's acceptable. But when it comes to human beings, we can't let some people die to save the rest. That's unacceptable. That's the analogy I was trying to draw. Human beings are not cogs in a machines. We are not cells who some master brain can dictate things to. We are complex, self-aware beings. You turn off a machine and you can turn it back on again later. Your body kills off a ton of infected cells and that's fine because they grow back and those cells aren't special. Your turn off large parts of this complex machine we've constructed to support 6~7 billion human beings on this planet, and a lot of people are going to die. Even if you can keep people from dying, there is going to be a lot of civil unrest, protests, because there are limits of what we can take as human beings. The point of the post is that there are two diseases. The first is the virus that's killing of tens of thousands of people. Then the second disease will hit; the economic impact of all we are doing to stop the disease, which could leave millions without necessities.
lm28469 7y ago
> Shutting down rural areas could shut down food supplies, which we're already seeing with seasonal fruit pickers in Europe. Do you really thing the government didn't think about that question ... It's not like two weeks down the line all the experts will be like "damn, we forgot about the food". The only affected crops are hand picked fruits, which aren't a necessity. All grains, potatoes, most veggies are picked by machines, there won't be any food shortage, unless you only feed on raspberries.
- djsumdog 7y ago
  > Do you really thing the government didn't think about that question Yes.
emiliobumachar 7y ago
Please excuse my ignorance. If immune system overreaction is what's killing people, why aren't we giving them immunosuppressants in carefully balanced doses?

cowpig 7y ago

This is dangerously false (we don't yet know what the long-term effects of COVID-19 will be). How do I flag this for moderator removal?

djsumdog 7y ago
Did you read the article? It's my blog post. I wrote it. Instead of just saying it's dangerously false, explain why. Let's have a discussion instead if you jumping the flag button. There are already cases in Europe where fruit is rotting because no one is available to pick it. If the country shuts down like Gates suggest, there are lots of secondary effects that can injure people. It's just like COVID-19, in someone's immune system, overreacting and killing more cells when it doesn't need to. That should not be acceptable in our society.
- cowpig 7y ago
  There's no evidence to suggest that people who recover from COVID-19 have "only dead blood cells" that can "just be replaced". There is a bunch of evidence that it can cause scarring in peoples' lungs, and it's unclear what other long-term effects there will be.
  - djsumdog 7y ago
    That wasn't what I was implying at all!! In your immune system, it can kill off bad cells and that's acceptable. But when it comes to human beings, we can't let some people die to save the rest. That's unacceptable. That's the analogy I was trying to draw. Human beings are not cogs in a machines. We are not cells who some master brain can dictate things to. We are complex, self-aware beings. You turn off a machine and you can turn it back on again later. Your body kills off a ton of infected cells and that's fine because they grow back and those cells aren't special. Your turn off large parts of this complex machine we've constructed to support 6~7 billion human beings on this planet, and a lot of people are going to die. Even if you can keep people from dying, there is going to be a lot of civil unrest, protests, because there are limits of what we can take as human beings. The point of the post is that there are two diseases. The first is the virus that's killing of tens of thousands of people. Then the second disease will hit; the economic impact of all we are doing to stop the disease, which could leave millions without necessities.

lm28469 7y ago

> Shutting down rural areas could shut down food supplies, which we're already seeing with seasonal fruit pickers in Europe. Do you really thing the government didn't think about that question ... It's not like two weeks down the line all the experts will be like "damn, we forgot about the food". The only affected crops are hand picked fruits, which aren't a necessity. All grains, potatoes, most veggies are picked by machines, there won't be any food shortage, unless you only feed on raspberries.

djsumdog 7y ago
> Do you really thing the government didn't think about that question Yes.

emiliobumachar 7y ago

Please excuse my ignorance. If immune system overreaction is what's killing people, why aren't we giving them immunosuppressants in carefully balanced doses?