Re:US asks journals not to publish flu virus research to kee...
by ig1 on Wednesday December 21, 2011 @06:50PM
(#3379655)
The odds of a crazy person unleashing a deadly virus upon the world are probably relatively low maybe 1 in a million.
The odds of a random mutation unleashing deadly virus upon the world are probably close to 1.
It's amazing how quickly people have forgotten about the 1918 flu epidemic. It killed around 75 million people and infected more than a quarter of the world's population.
We're going to have another virus epidemic of that proportion, it's a question of when rather than if. We should be building defences because of the risk of random mutations and not because of the risk of engineered viruses.
Re:US asks journals not to publish flu virus research to kee...
by Florin_Andrei on Wednesday December 21, 2011 @07:35PM
(#3379778)
Good point.
That's right.
Insane people, OTOH, have no such restraints. That's what worries me more than any "terrorist" attack. I think we're paying too much attention to "terrorism", blinded as we are by the glare of media. But it's getting more and more easy for some doomsday cultist, sane enough to be able to perform basic engineering tasks, but insane enough to dream of a DIY Armageddon, to make those dreams (or, rather, nightmares) come true.
Even so, I'm still not sure whether withholding information is always good policy. Maybe it is - maybe a slight delay until defenses are built might be beneficial.