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Today& #39;s novel stupidity strain: people sliding into my mentions with idiotic cod-evolutions theories that hold that viruses will, over time, attain a peaceful coexistence because more virulent and deadly strains kill their hosts before they get a chance to spread.
While this is superficially true, it ignores the timescales and specifics. For example, the equilibrium a virus reaches with its host might involve wiping out a whole population, hitching a ride with another species, finding another population, and wiping IT out, too.
Or a pathogen might indeed attain equilibrium within a population, but only after wiping out 1/3-1/2 of every living soul every decade or two for a century or two. That& #39;s "herd immunity, Black Death style."
Or, you know, a virus might wipe itself out by wiping out the ENTIRE population of hosts (think of pre-Colombian civilizations that were entirely wiped out by settler-colonialist pathogens). It& #39;s true that this might drive the virus to extinction (as well as its host species).
Nevertheless, the pastel-Qanon/naturopath/woo/denier pandemic seems to have mutated its own new strain, who say we don& #39;t need vaccines or even masks, because if we just let the virus run its course, it will achieve a harmonious existence with us.
This stupidity pandemic - like other pathogens - will eventually produce an equilibrium. If we listen to these assholes, they will murder enough of us that the virus& #39;s spread is interrupted.
Problem solved!
Problem solved!
