4 ms·

Honest question. What's the "therefore" after this statement? The article mentions there have been 15 cases this year. After hundreds of thousands in 1988. So I

• jfengel 4y ago
  Unfortunately, there isn't a straightforward "therefore". The default would be "therefore, we have to accept that very small numbers of people will be harmed for the benefit of the vastly greater number". Only the most diehard utilitarian would love that. A better answer is "therefore, we need to radically alter the polio strategy, which will be expensive and difficult but would prevent those 15 cases, and maybe eventually eliminate it entirely. Oh, and we don't know how to do it". That makes the diehard utilitarians grumble, and everybody else cranky.