D&D and the rising pandemic

[Mind of tempest]

Remember kids, only YOU can stop click bait!

apparently were looking at dealing with new strains till 2030.

 

[Deset Gled]

apparently were looking at dealing with new strains till 2030.

That's not as bad as it's sounds, nor is it unexpected. COVID19 is, itself, jut a new strain of an old disease. Most viruses are. Realistically, we're looking at new strains of coronavirus for the rest of our existence. In all of human history, we've only managed to eradicate 2 diseases: smallpox and rinderpest.

Now, what those new strains will look like is an interesting question. But not one that can be answered a decade in advance.

 

[Mind of tempest]

That's not as bad as it's sounds, nor is it unexpected. COVID19 is, itself, jut a new strain of an old disease. Most viruses are. Realistically, we're looking at new strains of coronavirus for the rest of our existence. In all of human history, we've only managed to eradicate 2 diseases: smallpox and rinderpest.

Now, what those new strains will look like is an interesting question. But not one that can be answered a decade in advance.

life tends to be depressing so going with the worst case seems likely.

 

[Thomas Shey]

life tends to be depressing so going with the worst case seems likely.

That's not how viral mutation works though; you'll get various strains with various traits, and the most successful are not necessarily the most problematic.

 

[Mind of tempest]

That's not how viral mutation works though; you'll get various strains with various traits, and the most successful are not necessarily the most problematic.

your right, it is more my perspective that life tends towards depressing so I take it that it will be new flavours of unpleasent.

 

[Thomas Shey]

your right, it is more my perspective that life tends towards depressing so I take it that it will be new flavours of unpleasent.

Its always easy to find reasons (sometimes good ones) to be pessimistic, but its just as likely to produce false assumptions as its opposite.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Its always easy to find reasons (sometimes good ones) to be pessimistic, but its just as likely to produce false assumptions as its opposite.

true just never found reasons to be optimistic.

 

[Umbran]

That's not how viral mutation works though; you'll get various strains with various traits, and the most successful are not necessarily the most problematic.

Yes. "Success" in viral terms is generally, "makes the most copies of itself." Killing the host tends to limit the number of copies of you that get made. So, selection tends to lead to greater ubiquity, but lesser severity.
This is how we get the "common cold" - they are all over the place, everybody gets them, but they are no big deal.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yes. "Success" in viral terms is generally, "makes the most copies of itself." Killing the host tends to limit the number of copies of you that get made. So, selection tends to lead to greater ubiquity, but lesser severity.
This is how we get the "common cold" - they are all over the place, everybody gets them, but they are no big deal.

that does not mean it will get to that state quickly or ever.

 

[Umbran]

that does not mean it will get to that state quickly or ever.

Insofar as trends are not guarantees, that's true. And certainly, given that we are annoyed when pizza takes too long to show up, it won't happen "quickly" on our terms. But quickly, maybe even lightning speed, in evolutionary terms.