dsc.discovery.com— Could a single virus destroy humankind? If so, what would that virus look like? James Williams gets the answers from a virus expert.
Sep 24, 2009View in Crawl 4
Requirements for this virus.1. Spreads from human to human through air without causing symptoms or problems for a few weeks.2. The virus must resist all cures or vaccines devised by humans.3. It has to kill every single subtype of human. It's hard to kill the numerous versions of human immune systems.Can this be done? Of course it can that's a dumb question. Will it happen? Maybe. We should prepare for it anyway because it's a low probability of a catastrophic failure.One Solution I see:Pay a population of humans to establish a totally self-reliant civilization on an island. And BAN human migration onto the island without a 60 day quarantine and full medical tests. So in the event of an emergency, and this virus/disease strikes. The disease is denied access to some humans. Then they are instructed to wait-out the disease for a time. And then one by one you send batches of humans to the new world, hoping they find new areas without the virus, and if they get sick, they are banished. Ideally they would find some places where the virus is gone, and could repopulate the earth if they find a cure because they have more time to do it with strict rules denying the virus/disease access to every human.
maeon3Sep 25, 2009
Requirements for this virus.1. Spreads from human to human through air without causing symptoms or problems for a few weeks.2. The virus must resist all cures or vaccines devised by humans.3. It has to kill every single subtype of human. It's hard to kill the numerous versions of human immune systems.Can this be done? Of course it can that's a dumb question. Will it happen? Maybe. We should prepare for it anyway because it's a low probability of a catastrophic failure.One Solution I see:Pay a population of humans to establish a totally self-reliant civilization on an island. And BAN human migration onto the island without a 60 day quarantine and full medical tests. So in the event of an emergency, and this virus/disease strikes. The disease is denied access to some humans. Then they are instructed to wait-out the disease for a time. And then one by one you send batches of humans to the new world, hoping they find new areas without the virus, and if they get sick, they are banished. Ideally they would find some places where the virus is gone, and could repopulate the earth if they find a cure because they have more time to do it with strict rules denying the virus/disease access to every human.
xaevierSep 25, 2009
A single virus could never destroy the entire population for one reason alone.Madagascar
Closed AccountSep 25, 2009
Was just about to say...