Will Continued Social Distancing Ultimately Destroy All Human Life on this Planet?
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:39 pm
Will Continued Social Distancing Ultimately Destroy All Human Life on this Planet?
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I know, I know… your first thought after reading this title is “Wow Roger, now you’ve really lost your mind!”. But humor me a bit and take a look at this analogy first, (…and then feel free to call me nuts, …if you still think so).
Firstly, my point of this analogy is to illustrate, what I see, as the catastrophic ending that we are all headed towards if we don’t change our course of action very soon. Although well intentioned, our current social distancing policies are having an opposite effect; the virus is only getting worse, not better. We are fast approaching a point of no return.
We fail to recognize that the healthy population (those with strong immune systems) on this planet are like the white blood cells of an individual’s body. Intentionally holding them back from an infection means that the infection will grow and mutate unabated. This is much like keeping a fire extinguisher hidden away from a fire. By the time we realize our error it will be too late. The rate of the virus replication will soon exceed mankind’s ability to extinguish it.
Of course, I hope I am wrong. And maybe one of you can show the flaw in my reasoning. If you want, you can just stop reading here and call me nuts, or if you are brave or curious enough to dare see what I see, then continue on. In this analogy, I’m using the following representations:
1. Cars = people
2. Car Tires = people’s immune system
3. Tires with lots of deep tread = good strong immune systems
4. Tires that are bald/balding = weak immune systems
5. Cars with punctured tires = dead people
6. A wide stretch of highway (aka the Highway of Life) = society; public life.
7. Thumb tacks scattered across the highway = covid-19 virus out in society
8. Slowing down traffic; slowing down tack infection = social distancing
9. Retreading (adding tread to) tires = vaccination to help increase immunity
Imagine that thumb tacks are randomly scattered all over the highway. The cars with good tires (“healthy cars”) simply run over and crush (kill) these tacks, while some of the cars with balding tires (“vulnerable cars”) are getting their tires punctured causing them to crash.
To help mitigate the deaths of these vulnerable cars, the government’s top science and medical experts have demanded that we slow down ALL traffic. They believe that slowing the spread of tack infections will result in saving more vulnerable cars.
[Mistake #1 - treating our population as ONE group; failing to realize that there are TWO segments to our population. We should encourage the ‘vulnerable’ segment to STOP socialization (i.e., stricter social distancing; quarantine), while encouraging the ‘healthy’ segment to SPEED UP socialization. The one-size-fits-all government policy of “SLOWING the spread for ALL” is the worst possible option. It not only results in more deaths to our vulnerable population, but it also allows the virus to continue to grow unabated (by keeping the healthy away from the virus).]
Government experts are quick to reject those that say we should allow the healthy cars to speed up and run free (i.e., implement “strategic herd immunity”) as being misinformed quacks, and warn us that if we listen to them then more cars would end up with punctured tires, because they say:
1) there is a slight chance that some of these healthy cars might get their tires punctured; they may actually have a weakness somewhere in their tire tread where a random tack might penetrate, and
2) some of these healthy cars might not kill all the tacks they encounter, some of the surviving tacks may escape, or be spit out, in front of the oncoming vulnerable cars that are still driving on the highway.
[Mistake #2 - this is akin to keeping a fire extinguisher away from a fire for 1) fear of burning the fire extinguisher itself, and 2) fear that the fire extinguisher may spread some of the fire while it is extinguishing the fire. The preference to let the fire run unabated only allows the fire to continue to grow in size.]
Our government experts nonetheless reject the opposing arguments and continue to demand that ALL traffic (including the healthy cars) slow down until a means (a vaccine) is developed which can add new tread to our balding tires. They tell us that this ability to add new tread to existing balding tires will help save more of our vulnerable cars and will ultimately end or minimize future tacks on the highway.
In the meantime, the policy of slowing down all cars does not seem to be working, the number of punctured tires is increasing at a faster and faster rate. Something must be wrong, why are things getting worse? Government experts respond by saying that we need even MORE slowdown of traffic.
[Mistake #3 - contrary to popular belief, “slowing down the spread” does NOT necessarily mean “saving more lives”. In this case, it does just the opposite. Slowing down, or keeping the fire extinguishers hidden away from a fire does not make the fire grow smaller, it makes it grow larger, thereby creating more deaths of our vulnerable population.]
The government experts rightly tell us that when a tack imbeds into the soft section of a balding tire, and assuming it has not already penetrated and punctured the tire, it starts to replicate, producing more tacks within the soft section of tire (its host). Soon, these cars with balding tires are so loaded with new tacks, that they start shedding tacks all over the highway, thereby increasing the total number of tacks out on the highway, making it even more dangerous for vulnerable cars to travel on.
Furthermore, government experts rightly tell us that each replication of a tack is a slight variation of the previous tack. Because of the laws of natural selection (aka survival of the fittest) the points of the surviving replicated tacks are now a little bit longer and stronger than the previous version. These mutated tacks now pose a threat to those cars with marginal treads that were once considered safe enough with the original version tacks.
So now it is January 2021, and we have developed the means to add enough tread to our balding tires to withstand the original version of the virus. A massive nationwide re-treading program is implemented making it safer for more cars to get back on the highway of life.
But wait. Our government experts are now suggesting that we keep the slowdown of ALL traffic, even though we have re-treaded tires on our vulnerable cars. The calls to allow the freedom and speeding up of our healthy (and recently re-treaded) cars are being rejected by our experts as “unsafe”. They say that new tack variants/mutations have arrived onto our highways and we may possibly have to wait until we develop another newer tread (vaccine) that can withstand this longer stronger tack. They demand that we keep ALL cars slowed down until we know if our recent re-treading will protect against these newer tacks.
[FATAL mistake #4 - is repeating the mistakes 1, 2, and 3. If we don’t act immediately and change course, then the party is over. If we allow the virus to grow to a point where we can no longer extinguish it, then it will extinguish us.]
*************
In conclusion, we can’t win this fight by playing defense; by continually hiding, nor can we develop vaccines at a fast enough pace to ever keep up with the latest mutations.
The reason the flu virus (and its many mutations) has not already doomed us is because we did not mess with mother nature; we did not socially distance our healthy population; we did not hold back our white blood cells (the protectors) away from the infection; we did not keep the fire extinguisher away from the fire that needed extinguishing.
If we don’t immediately unmask and start the full speed socialization of our healthy populations on this planet (including those recently vaccinated) then the party is over. The virus will have won the battle of natural selection (“survival of the fittest”).
********
I know, I know… your first thought after reading this title is “Wow Roger, now you’ve really lost your mind!”. But humor me a bit and take a look at this analogy first, (…and then feel free to call me nuts, …if you still think so).
Firstly, my point of this analogy is to illustrate, what I see, as the catastrophic ending that we are all headed towards if we don’t change our course of action very soon. Although well intentioned, our current social distancing policies are having an opposite effect; the virus is only getting worse, not better. We are fast approaching a point of no return.
We fail to recognize that the healthy population (those with strong immune systems) on this planet are like the white blood cells of an individual’s body. Intentionally holding them back from an infection means that the infection will grow and mutate unabated. This is much like keeping a fire extinguisher hidden away from a fire. By the time we realize our error it will be too late. The rate of the virus replication will soon exceed mankind’s ability to extinguish it.
Of course, I hope I am wrong. And maybe one of you can show the flaw in my reasoning. If you want, you can just stop reading here and call me nuts, or if you are brave or curious enough to dare see what I see, then continue on. In this analogy, I’m using the following representations:
1. Cars = people
2. Car Tires = people’s immune system
3. Tires with lots of deep tread = good strong immune systems
4. Tires that are bald/balding = weak immune systems
5. Cars with punctured tires = dead people
6. A wide stretch of highway (aka the Highway of Life) = society; public life.
7. Thumb tacks scattered across the highway = covid-19 virus out in society
8. Slowing down traffic; slowing down tack infection = social distancing
9. Retreading (adding tread to) tires = vaccination to help increase immunity
Imagine that thumb tacks are randomly scattered all over the highway. The cars with good tires (“healthy cars”) simply run over and crush (kill) these tacks, while some of the cars with balding tires (“vulnerable cars”) are getting their tires punctured causing them to crash.
To help mitigate the deaths of these vulnerable cars, the government’s top science and medical experts have demanded that we slow down ALL traffic. They believe that slowing the spread of tack infections will result in saving more vulnerable cars.
[Mistake #1 - treating our population as ONE group; failing to realize that there are TWO segments to our population. We should encourage the ‘vulnerable’ segment to STOP socialization (i.e., stricter social distancing; quarantine), while encouraging the ‘healthy’ segment to SPEED UP socialization. The one-size-fits-all government policy of “SLOWING the spread for ALL” is the worst possible option. It not only results in more deaths to our vulnerable population, but it also allows the virus to continue to grow unabated (by keeping the healthy away from the virus).]
Government experts are quick to reject those that say we should allow the healthy cars to speed up and run free (i.e., implement “strategic herd immunity”) as being misinformed quacks, and warn us that if we listen to them then more cars would end up with punctured tires, because they say:
1) there is a slight chance that some of these healthy cars might get their tires punctured; they may actually have a weakness somewhere in their tire tread where a random tack might penetrate, and
2) some of these healthy cars might not kill all the tacks they encounter, some of the surviving tacks may escape, or be spit out, in front of the oncoming vulnerable cars that are still driving on the highway.
[Mistake #2 - this is akin to keeping a fire extinguisher away from a fire for 1) fear of burning the fire extinguisher itself, and 2) fear that the fire extinguisher may spread some of the fire while it is extinguishing the fire. The preference to let the fire run unabated only allows the fire to continue to grow in size.]
Our government experts nonetheless reject the opposing arguments and continue to demand that ALL traffic (including the healthy cars) slow down until a means (a vaccine) is developed which can add new tread to our balding tires. They tell us that this ability to add new tread to existing balding tires will help save more of our vulnerable cars and will ultimately end or minimize future tacks on the highway.
In the meantime, the policy of slowing down all cars does not seem to be working, the number of punctured tires is increasing at a faster and faster rate. Something must be wrong, why are things getting worse? Government experts respond by saying that we need even MORE slowdown of traffic.
[Mistake #3 - contrary to popular belief, “slowing down the spread” does NOT necessarily mean “saving more lives”. In this case, it does just the opposite. Slowing down, or keeping the fire extinguishers hidden away from a fire does not make the fire grow smaller, it makes it grow larger, thereby creating more deaths of our vulnerable population.]
The government experts rightly tell us that when a tack imbeds into the soft section of a balding tire, and assuming it has not already penetrated and punctured the tire, it starts to replicate, producing more tacks within the soft section of tire (its host). Soon, these cars with balding tires are so loaded with new tacks, that they start shedding tacks all over the highway, thereby increasing the total number of tacks out on the highway, making it even more dangerous for vulnerable cars to travel on.
Furthermore, government experts rightly tell us that each replication of a tack is a slight variation of the previous tack. Because of the laws of natural selection (aka survival of the fittest) the points of the surviving replicated tacks are now a little bit longer and stronger than the previous version. These mutated tacks now pose a threat to those cars with marginal treads that were once considered safe enough with the original version tacks.
So now it is January 2021, and we have developed the means to add enough tread to our balding tires to withstand the original version of the virus. A massive nationwide re-treading program is implemented making it safer for more cars to get back on the highway of life.
But wait. Our government experts are now suggesting that we keep the slowdown of ALL traffic, even though we have re-treaded tires on our vulnerable cars. The calls to allow the freedom and speeding up of our healthy (and recently re-treaded) cars are being rejected by our experts as “unsafe”. They say that new tack variants/mutations have arrived onto our highways and we may possibly have to wait until we develop another newer tread (vaccine) that can withstand this longer stronger tack. They demand that we keep ALL cars slowed down until we know if our recent re-treading will protect against these newer tacks.
[FATAL mistake #4 - is repeating the mistakes 1, 2, and 3. If we don’t act immediately and change course, then the party is over. If we allow the virus to grow to a point where we can no longer extinguish it, then it will extinguish us.]
*************
In conclusion, we can’t win this fight by playing defense; by continually hiding, nor can we develop vaccines at a fast enough pace to ever keep up with the latest mutations.
The reason the flu virus (and its many mutations) has not already doomed us is because we did not mess with mother nature; we did not socially distance our healthy population; we did not hold back our white blood cells (the protectors) away from the infection; we did not keep the fire extinguisher away from the fire that needed extinguishing.
If we don’t immediately unmask and start the full speed socialization of our healthy populations on this planet (including those recently vaccinated) then the party is over. The virus will have won the battle of natural selection (“survival of the fittest”).
