Asteroids. Check.
Solar flares. Check.
Volcanoes. Check.
Earthquakes. Check.
Tsunamis. Check.
Tornadoes. Check.
Hurricanes. Check.
Lightning. Check.
Slippery icy sidewalks, roads, and bathtubs. Check.
Trips down steps. Check.
Sinkholes. Check.
Floods. Check.
Landslides and rock falls. Check.
Fires. Check.
Bacteria. Check.
Viruses. Check.
Pollution. Check.
Genetic penchants for various diseases. Check.
Lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my! Check.
Venomous organisms of all kinds. Check.
Parasites. Check.
Bad guys (and girls). Check.
Accidents of all kinds. Check.
Manmade viruses. WHAT?
Stupid people. Check.
Yes, now manmade viruses. Horsepox/smallpox. David Evans in Canada and Ryan Noyce not only made the smallpox-related virus, but they also published how to make it. Just what we need with all the pathological people out there with some destructive agenda. Bet you can’t wait for the next educated terrorist to peruse that research. Aren’t we thankful that the pharmaceutical company Tonix of New York spent money ($100,000) to fund the researchers?*
The developed nations have made some preparations against an outbreak of smallpox, a disease eliminated as a threat decades ago but kept in the wonderful germ-warfare factories of some countries. To protect its citizens, the USA, for example, has 28 million doses on hand. Of course, there are more than 300,000,000 people in the country, so 9% of unvaccinated Americans can be assured of some protection—if they get the vaccine on time.
We’ve had a smallpox vaccine since 1796, when Edward Jenner discovered how to make and inject it. A number of people older than 50 have been vaccinated, but since the elimination of the disease in 1980, vaccinating against smallpox gradually ceased.
Don’t worry. Chances are you’ll succumb to any of the non-smallpox risks before that one gets you—regardless of the efforts by some to make a defunct disease. But, should the disease become weaponized on the basis of what Evans and Noyce published, you can be assured that they will echo the words of Albert Einstein, who said, “I do not consider myself the father of the release of atomic energy. My part in it was quite indirect. I did not, in fact, foresee that it would be released in my time. I believed only that it was theoretically possible. It became practical through the accidental discovery of chain reaction, and this was not something I could have predicted” (121).**
Directly or indirectly, we set in motion more than we can possibly foresee.
*Kupferschmidt, Kai. A paper showing how to make a smallpox cousin just got published. Critics wonder why, Science, January 19, 2018. Online at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/paper-showing-how-make-smallpox-cousin-just-got-published-critics-wonder-why
**Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions. Based on Mein Weltbild, ed. Carl Seelig, translation by Sonja Bargmann, 1982, originally copyrighted in 1954. “Atomic War and Peace,” published in Atlantic Monthly, Boston, November, 1947. As told to Raymond Swing, pp. 118-131.
Solar flares. Check.
Volcanoes. Check.
Earthquakes. Check.
Tsunamis. Check.
Tornadoes. Check.
Hurricanes. Check.
Lightning. Check.
Slippery icy sidewalks, roads, and bathtubs. Check.
Trips down steps. Check.
Sinkholes. Check.
Floods. Check.
Landslides and rock falls. Check.
Fires. Check.
Bacteria. Check.
Viruses. Check.
Pollution. Check.
Genetic penchants for various diseases. Check.
Lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my! Check.
Venomous organisms of all kinds. Check.
Parasites. Check.
Bad guys (and girls). Check.
Accidents of all kinds. Check.
Manmade viruses. WHAT?
Stupid people. Check.
Yes, now manmade viruses. Horsepox/smallpox. David Evans in Canada and Ryan Noyce not only made the smallpox-related virus, but they also published how to make it. Just what we need with all the pathological people out there with some destructive agenda. Bet you can’t wait for the next educated terrorist to peruse that research. Aren’t we thankful that the pharmaceutical company Tonix of New York spent money ($100,000) to fund the researchers?*
The developed nations have made some preparations against an outbreak of smallpox, a disease eliminated as a threat decades ago but kept in the wonderful germ-warfare factories of some countries. To protect its citizens, the USA, for example, has 28 million doses on hand. Of course, there are more than 300,000,000 people in the country, so 9% of unvaccinated Americans can be assured of some protection—if they get the vaccine on time.
We’ve had a smallpox vaccine since 1796, when Edward Jenner discovered how to make and inject it. A number of people older than 50 have been vaccinated, but since the elimination of the disease in 1980, vaccinating against smallpox gradually ceased.
Don’t worry. Chances are you’ll succumb to any of the non-smallpox risks before that one gets you—regardless of the efforts by some to make a defunct disease. But, should the disease become weaponized on the basis of what Evans and Noyce published, you can be assured that they will echo the words of Albert Einstein, who said, “I do not consider myself the father of the release of atomic energy. My part in it was quite indirect. I did not, in fact, foresee that it would be released in my time. I believed only that it was theoretically possible. It became practical through the accidental discovery of chain reaction, and this was not something I could have predicted” (121).**
Directly or indirectly, we set in motion more than we can possibly foresee.
*Kupferschmidt, Kai. A paper showing how to make a smallpox cousin just got published. Critics wonder why, Science, January 19, 2018. Online at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/paper-showing-how-make-smallpox-cousin-just-got-published-critics-wonder-why
**Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions. Based on Mein Weltbild, ed. Carl Seelig, translation by Sonja Bargmann, 1982, originally copyrighted in 1954. “Atomic War and Peace,” published in Atlantic Monthly, Boston, November, 1947. As told to Raymond Swing, pp. 118-131.
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