Physically, this virus is not that lethal.
It kills ~1% of the ppl it infects.
About half don't even notice it.
Although it's ~10-15x worse than the flu, Ebola is ~30x worse than the #coronavirus
But that's not its weakness.
It's its strength.
[2/
It kills ~1% of the ppl it infects.
About half don't even notice it.
Although it's ~10-15x worse than the flu, Ebola is ~30x worse than the #coronavirus
But that's not its weakness.
It's its strength.
[2/
By only killing a few, and not causing symptoms in many, most people's experience is that it isn't a big deal. That lets ppl's guard down.
But not only that.
[3/
But not only that.
[3/
By spreading mostly before ppl have symptoms, it's difficult to catch.
[4/
[4/
By not showing symptoms that are very visually striking—like for example bleeding through the eyes, or causing excruciating pain and screams—it doesn't raise ppl's instincts of fear.
[5/
[5/
By prying on older ppl—instead of the young, like the 1918 flu—, it severs fewer years when it kills. That gives many ppl a license to think it doesn't matter that much.
[6/
[6/
By infecting the respiratory system, it doesn't require specific actions. Humans spread it just by being.
It's easy to change some interactions.
It's much harder to avoid any interaction.
[7/
It's easy to change some interactions.
It's much harder to avoid any interaction.
[7/
We can't see it.
We can't touch it.
We can't feel it.
We can't smell it.
We can't notice it.
Until it's too late.
[8/
We can't touch it.
We can't feel it.
We can't smell it.
We can't notice it.
Until it's too late.
[8/
The result:
Humans can't intuitively experience the virus.
We're forced to grasp it through data.
That goes against millions of years of psychological evolution.
Our defense—science—is a series of ideas that we've only had for a handful of centuries.
[9/
Humans can't intuitively experience the virus.
We're forced to grasp it through data.
That goes against millions of years of psychological evolution.
Our defense—science—is a series of ideas that we've only had for a handful of centuries.
[9/
As a result, the #coronavirus has been a test, not of our healthcare systems—they've fought with science as well as they could—but of our social psychological structures.
[10/
[10/
Societies that incorporated data quickly and were able to compel citizens to modify their behaviors accordingly won.
Those that couldn't react to data quickly, or couldn't win the psychological war by compelling their citizens to do what's right, lost.
[11/
Those that couldn't react to data quickly, or couldn't win the psychological war by compelling their citizens to do what's right, lost.
[11/
The #coronavirus has yielded a psychological war against humans.
Some strongholds stood unabated.
In most of the world, it won.
[12/12]
Some strongholds stood unabated.
In most of the world, it won.
[12/12]
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