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Threatened Pandemics and Laboratory Escapes: Self-fulfilling Prophecies
Lasrick (2629253) writes "Martin Furmanski, a medical doctor and medical historian, writes of the laboratory escapes of high-consequence pathogens that have occurred in recent decades (including several instances of smallpox!). The article explores 'gain of function" experiments-- experiments in which researchers manipulate dangerous pathogens to increase communicability among humans, and whether the benefit we see from those experiments outweighs the incredible risk. 'Many other laboratory escapes of high-consequence pathogens have occurred, resulting in transmission beyond laboratory personnel. Ironically, these laboratories were working with pathogens to prevent the very outbreaks they ultimately caused. For that reason, the tragic consequences have been called "self-fulfilling prophecies.''"
Bruce Willis agrees.
Killer viruses/bacteria escaping from labs is one thing, just don't cause a resonance cascade!
Wouldn't it make more sense to locate these labs in an incredibly isolated area like an island in the middle of the ocean or the Moon? Someplace that CAN be quarantined 100% in the event of a mishap?
I fully support ideas of Marx where it concerns the abolition of the State and income tax resistance.
Given the nature of today's date, let's go further.
Marx insisted that the bourgeois exploits the proletariat through the "constant revolutionising of production and uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions". So let's declare revolutionizing of production to be illegal and prohibit any form of non-incremental but sudden advances where it concerns production, manufacturing and technology. Introduction of personal computers was not an incremental step, introduction of the Internet itself, the combustion engine, powered flight, nuclear power, molecular biology and DNA based technology, and more, none of these are evolutionary, these are revolutionary technologies and must be abolished, prohibited and abandoned in favor of more evolutionary technologies and production techniques, which do not serve to undermine the status quo of the every day lives of the proletariat.
Of-course all private property must be abolished, inequality must be squashed, this has to start with the 1% but it cannot stop there, it must be taken to its logical conclusion. As long as we have inequality there can be no true Marxism / communism, so we have to find the lowest common denominator, which everybody must agree, is the ultimate goal that provides the conformity necessary to prevent rise of capital formation. Let's find that lowest common denominator taking into account that private property starts with our own bodies, let's look beyond the obvious, such as land, factories, cars, houses, and such, let's look at the root of this evil, the moment of conception itself. Nobody can be allowed to utilize naturally occurring DNA based advantages, which are also manifestation of private property and thus capital formation, we must eradicate this inequality at the moment of formation. This requires that all sperm and eggs used in conception are equalized, there can be no deviation from the standards and norms in order to achieve maximum parity.
Of-course among the already living there are other forms of inequalities that can also be addressed immediately. There are, after all, people who through no fault of their own lost limbs, eyesight, normal functioning of their natural bodies, which is where the problem of inequality is very sharply observed. Nobody should be in a position to utilize his or her property to rise above the normal, thus normal must be understood to be the poorest in all properties, including body functions and capabilities. This means that upon reaching a certain age, all people must undergo a mandatory equalization procedure, consisting of the following elements:
* Removal of limbs
* Lobotomy
* Removal of other discriminating organs, such as eyes, tongue, nose, external genitalia.
Only by ensuring that no person can reasonably elevate his or her worldly status via acquiring possessions, especially if starting from an unequal playing field, which includes having more in terms of body capabilities than anybody else.
In the spirit of Marxism / Communism access to all valuables must be open to all international claimants, so for example an American peasant must be sharing fruits of his labor with anybody in the world, including any Indian or Chinese or middle-eastern comrade and while taxes must be resisted by the majority, a minority must be forced to pay them anyway, and while the State must be abolished, taxes still must be collected on behalf of the....
You can't handle the truth.
and you will definitely see none of this as surprising (if you happen to now).
I'm only surprised really that nothing catastrophic has actually occurred yet.
http://www.amazon.com/Biohazard-Chilling-Largest-Biological-World--Told/dp/0385334966/&qid=1396369593&sr=8-1&keywords=ken+alibek
This was the basis for a Stephen King story in 1978, "The Stand".
Also "The Hot Zone" was a non-fictional account of an Ebola outbreak from a lab.
Not done.
My sound is muted, but it's considered bad form to auto-play audio because not everyone mutes their sound.
What's your number, baby?
I used to look forward annually to see what would come outâ¦why did they do away with it?
Seriously, one day of OMG Poniesâ¦was fun and funny.
RIP April Fools on Slashdot.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Self-fulfilling prophecies cause the events they predict. Saying "Labs will release viruses!" doesn't seem to cause the virus releases in any way I can see. If anything, it makes the controls more stringent.
Wouldn't want these folks making a pinky swear when a petri dish of genetically modified super-virus goes missing after they crossed Ebola with the common cold.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Is the auto playing accessibility feature for the visually impaired the April fools joke?
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Don't link audio in the comments.
God spoke to me
I remember hearing about a Lvl 4 containment site getting concreted with people inside of it.
I can't lay claim to it but i do believe it.
I'm here for the experience, not the Hyperbole.
So what you're saying is... if we just bury our head in the sand and just ignore these diseases, no one will ever get sick from them. Wow.... whoud'a thunk that'd werk!
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Biological weaponization in the name of science. This is the part where I look at the religious and admire them for all the shit they give you. These 'scientists' should be dragged out into the street and shot.
There are far more releases than is acknowledged. FAR MORE. Look at ebola and see the 2 lab accidents in Russia. Lots of work going on in weaponizing various bugs.
We desperately need to find an island in the middle of the pacific, or even in the Antarctica, and put up a facility there, with another facility where ppl shuffle off to for up to 2 months after leaving the primary facility. But it should be like the ISS and have multiple nations that work there with ppl going in for 3 or 6 month rotations.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Startalk - Cosmic Queries with Laurie Garrett
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
A woman that was working in a lab that had a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis (among other things) was sick and undiagnosed for several years, until her doctor was absent and an older doctor came out of retirement to fill in. The older doctor recognised TB from back when he was first starting out. The victim was not supposed to be in contact with it, which is why TB was not suspected (or even mentioned to medical specialists), but it must not have been kept contained in the areas where it was supposed to be contained.
Is this a "in Soviet Russia" thing? If so, at some times it would have been entirely believable even if there was no loss of containment but just a wish to get rid of inconvenient witnesses to something.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit; It's the only way to be sure.........
A launchpad explosion usually burns any biological material to ashes - which is why people do not survive. Still, if you want to be sure, include a incineration device that destroy the virus samples in case of trouble. If you don't trust thermite, consider a small nuke.
What researcher wouldn't want a lab on the moon?
. . . any country that won't bother with a class 4 lab in order to study viruses? Or who might actually order an incredibly expensive class 4 lab, only to see the contracor pocket 90% of the money and deliver an ordinary building? A fact that never gets out because such people knows who to bribe?
It won't matter how good a class 4 lab in a secure location might be. Some won't bother, some simply won't have a secure location. So it gets hit by tsunami or cracked open & plundered by enemy troops. Reason enough not to make viruses worse than they are already.