3 ms·

This is fantastic. One thought that came to my mind is: would mosquito borne diseases have been a problem in city surrounded by so much water?

ThomasKole 3y ago
I don't know much about that, but one of the districts was called "Moyotlan", or "place of the mosquitos" or "place of the gnats".
- npsomaratna 3y ago
  Interesting, thank you. I wonder if that that area had stagnant water, allowing mosquito growth.
aegypti 3y ago
Mosquito borne disease didn’t exist in the Americas prior to contact, both the viruses and species that transmit them come from the old world. Cortes landed at Veracruz the next year, in 1519. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Acuna-Soto_EID-v8n4p360_Fig1.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Acuna-So...
- npsomaratna 3y ago
  Understood, thank you. That makes sense.
  - aegypti 3y ago
    It was a great question, and a great reason to make an HN account too!
- hvis 3y ago
  I guess when the aliens finally arrive, the important part will be to avoid hugging them.
  - kadoban 3y ago
    Probably safer to hug them than another human. Most diseases don't even cross species boundaries, seems unlikely they'd do well trying to infect a completely alien being. The reason that diseases from the old world were so deadly, when they crossed the pond, is that they'd evolved to spread quite well even in humans with an evolved or acquired resistance and were suddenly in a completely unprepared population.
    - api 3y ago
      The danger would be organisms that simply eat our biochemistry but are entirely immune to any of our defenses. Think flesh eating bacteria from space, only it also basically eats our entire biosphere.
  - api 3y ago
    Aliens from different biospheres will never be able to have physical contact. If they are close in biochemistry the dangers are extreme to catastrophic. If we actually found a crashed UFO with bodies we should drop a thermonuclear bomb on it immediately. Just ask the Native Americans. If they are not biochemically close chances are we and our environment would be horribly toxic, freezing, or boiling hot to them and vice versa.
  - maronato 3y ago
    People in the new world and old world were both human, so diseases were able to spread. Aliens probably won’t be human, so their diseases infecting us is unlikely at first
- quinncom 3y ago
  Username checks out ;)

ThomasKole 3y ago

I don't know much about that, but one of the districts was called "Moyotlan", or "place of the mosquitos" or "place of the gnats".

npsomaratna 3y ago
Interesting, thank you. I wonder if that that area had stagnant water, allowing mosquito growth.

aegypti 3y ago

Mosquito borne disease didn’t exist in the Americas prior to contact, both the viruses and species that transmit them come from the old world. Cortes landed at Veracruz the next year, in 1519. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Acuna-Soto_EID-v8n4p360_Fig1.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Acuna-So...

npsomaratna 3y ago
Understood, thank you. That makes sense.
- aegypti 3y ago
  It was a great question, and a great reason to make an HN account too!
hvis 3y ago
I guess when the aliens finally arrive, the important part will be to avoid hugging them.
- kadoban 3y ago
  Probably safer to hug them than another human. Most diseases don't even cross species boundaries, seems unlikely they'd do well trying to infect a completely alien being. The reason that diseases from the old world were so deadly, when they crossed the pond, is that they'd evolved to spread quite well even in humans with an evolved or acquired resistance and were suddenly in a completely unprepared population.
  - api 3y ago
    The danger would be organisms that simply eat our biochemistry but are entirely immune to any of our defenses. Think flesh eating bacteria from space, only it also basically eats our entire biosphere.
- api 3y ago
  Aliens from different biospheres will never be able to have physical contact. If they are close in biochemistry the dangers are extreme to catastrophic. If we actually found a crashed UFO with bodies we should drop a thermonuclear bomb on it immediately. Just ask the Native Americans. If they are not biochemically close chances are we and our environment would be horribly toxic, freezing, or boiling hot to them and vice versa.
- maronato 3y ago
  People in the new world and old world were both human, so diseases were able to spread. Aliens probably won’t be human, so their diseases infecting us is unlikely at first
quinncom 3y ago
Username checks out ;)