An interesting book: GUN, GERMS AND STEEL (IIRC). Various plagues have swept inhabited areas throughout history, enabled by the proximity in which people live and the conditions in which they live. I see this as an on-going struggle between the bugs and the people. There are so many smarter things that we could be doing to protect people -- but the reality remains that there is a great diversity to life, and that one of the characteristics of life is its ability to change, mutate, pursue greater capabilities, and profit from environmental opportunity. To the bugs, humans (and everything else on the planet) are just one more environmental opportunity. Occasionally, human score a big one, e.g. blind river sickness.
The question, I suppose, is whether humans are doing anything that systemically swings the balance of this struggle one way or another. Is our species doing anything that reduces our ability to continue evolving in beneficial ways? Cheers, Lawry > -----Original Message----- > From: Ray Evans Harrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 7:21 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Ed Weick; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Epidemics > > > There is a world plague called Shistomiasis that hasn't reached > America but > is now in the Caribbean caused by a very nasty intestinal worm > that started > in snails found in a small country south of Egypt on the Nile. > The death > comes very slowly, painfully and disgustingly since you're > definitely in the > process of being eaten. You can catch the worm simply by walking in the > water where it lives through the skin of the feet. Where it > was contained > in a small area (like Killer Bees and Fire Ants) today, after the > Aswan Dam > spread it North in the body of a small snail forty percent of the > population > of Egypt have it. The snail has hitched a ride in the bilge of > ships that > are now spreading it around the world. It has turned Island paradises > like Saint Lucia into terrible places where the children can't > swim or even > walk in the freshwater streams. The only answer is technology which > separates them from the beauty of their home but gives them fresh water to > drink and bathe in. This is just one of many such stories. It is so > common a story that one of the more famous books on world contagion is > called "Who Gave Pinta to the Santa Maria?" In fact one > could make the > case that humanity itself is one of those kinds of contagions > that overgrow > and spread destruction wherever they go or at least one can make that case > for Humanity that sails on ships around the world. If more care was > taken with airliners they could be rendered very safe from such cross > fertilization but ships are a particular problem. To cross fertilize > another string on Futurework, two such travelors, Killer Bees > and Fire Ants > are in the process of making Texas uninhabitable. > > REH > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 4:06 PM > Subject: RE: [Futurework] Epidemics > > > > Ed, thanks for the interesting posts. Do you have a sense of whether > > sanitary conditions are changing in such slums? Can you offer > a guess on > > why such a catastrophic epidemic hasn't occurred as yet? How > extensive are > > current vaccination programs? Is it possible that the conditions you > > describe produce a heartier sub-population in the slums? I am > interested > in > > epidemiology or other natural dynamics that may create genetic > differences > > among peoples. > > > > Cheers, > > Lawry > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Ed Weick > > > Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 3:08 PM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Christoph Reuss > > > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Epidemics > > > > > > > > > Chris, I wasn't suggesting that free trade is a causative > factor in the > > > spread of disease. The fact that goods and people move around is > > > a factor, > > > but I don't see why it wouldn't be even if trade were severely > restricted. > > > People and goods would still move around, if not legally then > > > illegally. It > > > reminds me of a lecture I once attended on trade between eastern > > > and western > > > Europe during the Cold War. Though illegal, trade continued to be > brisk. > > > The Poles were particularly good at it, bringing all kinds of > goods into > > > eastern Europe via underground networks. As Canute found > out, the tides > > > don't stop just because they are commanded to. And if people > and goods > > > aren't the principal carriers of disease, something else may be, > > > like fleas > > > and rats during the bubonic plague, or ticks or mosquitoes, > > > things that pay > > > little attention to sealed borders. > > > > > > My concern was about huge and growing population clusters, like Sao > Paulo, > > > and the lack of a medical infrastructure that might stand a > > > chance of coping > > > with an epidemic. The slum I stayed in was very densely populated and > > > sanitation was poor. A nearby slum was even worse - indeed, > far worse. > > > There were medical facilities not too far away, but they looked > > > more able to > > > spread than contain disease. Turn a virulent disease loose in places > like > > > that and the results could be catastrophic. > > > > > > Ed > > > > > > Ed Weick > > > 577 Melbourne Ave. > > > Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 > > > Canada > > > Phone (613) 728 4630 > > > Fax (613) 728 9382 > > > > > > > > > > Ed Weick wrote: > > > > > Keith and Chris, the prospect is truly frightening. I've > spent some > > > time in > > > > > a huge, densely crowded slum in Sao Paulo and visited > slums in other > > > second > > > > > and third world cities. If the kind of disease Keith > poses began to > > > spread, > > > > > there is absolutely no way it could be stopped or confined. The > > > > > infrastructure simply isn't there. > > > > > > > > Worse, the same global "free" trade that helps the spread of > > > such diseases > > > > also helps the spread of slums in the first place. More > incentive to > > > > oppose it... > > > > > > > > Wonder if at least the British royals in their newly-built > high-security > > > > rooms will be spared...? > > > > > > > > Chris > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Futurework mailing list > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Futurework mailing list > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
