Alarmists are using a lot qualified language, and remember, every statement with a qualifier like "might" or "could" is exactly as true as its opposite. So whe

Alarmists are using a lot qualified language, and remember, every statement with a qualifier like "might" or "could" is exactly as true as its opposite. So when someone says, "Ebola might mutate to become a flesh-eating flying monkey" (which is true, by the way, given enough time) they may as well be saying, "Ebola might not mutate..." Both statements are equally true, but they have chosen to say only one. Why? What actionable information is contained in that choice? I can't see any. Nor (one hopes) does it express their desired outcome. Statements like "Ebola could mutate..." appear to me to be some kind of verbal reassurance behaviour. From this I infer that they are motivated primarily by fear, and one of the things fear does in social primates is--rather like a virus--spread itself. About which I will now proceed to speculate in an unfortunately data-free way. People are hierarchical animals, and when we're afraid we feel better if we're not as afraid as everyone else, so we tend to do and say things that will raise alarm in others. Being afraid lowers one's status in the group (and lower status often leads to more fear). There are two ways of dealing with this: reducing one's own fear, or increasing fear in others. Again, this is purely speculative: I've searched around a bit but can't find any research that bears directly on this question. It would be interesting to see it investigated, and relatively straightforward to do. So "Keep Calm and Carry On" is a good motto to have. It helps us focus on maintaining our place in the monkey hierarchy by controlling our own fear, rather inducing fear in others. And given how frequently fear runs out of control and leads to uncivil behaviour, this seems like a desirable result.