Profile picture
, 7 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
While I'm happy today's @nytimes front page is bringing attention to antibiotic resistance, I'm not sure war is a great analogy. In war there are two (or more) parties who know they're fighting and are trying to defeat one another. That's not really what's going on here. 1/
Sure, we are trying to kill bacteria before they can kill us, but they aren't doing that at all. They're just surviving in whatever environment they happen to be in, and adapting to whatever evolutionary pressures happen to be on them. It's not adversarial. 2/
This means that we can potentially predict what will evolve as a result of specific actions, and plan them accordingly. We aren't outsmarting an opponent, we're learning the rules of a system that's more complex than we're used to, and that difference matters. 3/
This doesn't have to be an endless war. In addition to new drugs, we need to understand what can and cannot evolve. Discovering new antibiotics is necessary, but it's only by understanding the evolution that we'll find a sustainable solution to antibiotic resistance. 4/4
Coda: In addition to being misleading, the metaphor of war isn't innocuous. This isn't an existential threat against which we must pay any price. Some interventions against resistance might hurt more people than they help, and we cannot ignore that cost or calculus.
Totally here for the dancing pill bottles, tho
Also loving the Wes Anderson aesthetic
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Michael Baym
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!