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I think this is a good argument for the government to start a program to do an ongoing “serological census”. On an ongoing basis, take random samples from the

I think this is a good argument for the government to start a program to do an ongoing “serological census”. On an ongoing basis, take random samples from the population and freeze their nasal swabs, blood samples, skin shavings, etc. If there’s ever a major disease we need to understand the spread of, this would give us the data before we’re even aware of its existence.

shalmanese 5y ago
That feels like a wonderfully efficient way to generate a continuously fertile crop of new conspiracy theories.
- nexuist 5y ago
  Here's a simple one: do we really trust a government agency (or hell, anyone really) to collect intimate and identifiable data about our bodies all while preserving anonymity and securing the data from nation state attackers? Do we trust nameless data scientists to run SQL queries over us that aren't intended to determine which ones of us will be smarter, stronger, more violent, etc? Do we trust politicians that have not yet been elected to office to use this data for benevolent purposes like our current politicians would (if we trust our current politicians)? Maybe there is some benefit to running such a program, but it would be outweighed by the vulgar distrust that would fester inside of concerned populations and spread to non-controversial parts of the government such as the post office and the voting process. Concerned populations here are not just conspiracy nuts; it would include undocumented immigrants, Black and Hispanic minorities, and probably a good chunk of Jews.
newsbinator 5y ago
I'm surprised they don't already do that?
- giarc 5y ago
  The chance of it producing any result is incredibly low. Imagine trying to pin point the start of an outbreak when the US might have had a handful of cases each month, by randomly sampling people. You'd basically have to sample 100% of the population every month to catch a rare event like that.
  - bhickey 5y ago
    Run pooled testing on blood donations, sewage or airplane waste water.
mrfusion 5y ago
With consent. Please say with consent.
passivate 5y ago
How do you develop a storage buffer for things you haven't even encountered? Also, freezing and thawing is an imperfect process that can damage cells. Sure we might luck out too.. But yeah, like the other poster said, the bill-gates-corona-5G-mind-control-implant folks are going to have a field day with that :D

shalmanese 5y ago

That feels like a wonderfully efficient way to generate a continuously fertile crop of new conspiracy theories.

nexuist 5y ago
Here's a simple one: do we really trust a government agency (or hell, anyone really) to collect intimate and identifiable data about our bodies all while preserving anonymity and securing the data from nation state attackers? Do we trust nameless data scientists to run SQL queries over us that aren't intended to determine which ones of us will be smarter, stronger, more violent, etc? Do we trust politicians that have not yet been elected to office to use this data for benevolent purposes like our current politicians would (if we trust our current politicians)? Maybe there is some benefit to running such a program, but it would be outweighed by the vulgar distrust that would fester inside of concerned populations and spread to non-controversial parts of the government such as the post office and the voting process. Concerned populations here are not just conspiracy nuts; it would include undocumented immigrants, Black and Hispanic minorities, and probably a good chunk of Jews.

newsbinator 5y ago

I'm surprised they don't already do that?

giarc 5y ago
The chance of it producing any result is incredibly low. Imagine trying to pin point the start of an outbreak when the US might have had a handful of cases each month, by randomly sampling people. You'd basically have to sample 100% of the population every month to catch a rare event like that.
- bhickey 5y ago
  Run pooled testing on blood donations, sewage or airplane waste water.

mrfusion 5y ago

With consent. Please say with consent.

passivate 5y ago

How do you develop a storage buffer for things you haven't even encountered? Also, freezing and thawing is an imperfect process that can damage cells. Sure we might luck out too.. But yeah, like the other poster said, the bill-gates-corona-5G-mind-control-implant folks are going to have a field day with that :D