[ExI] what did we learn?

[Ben Zaiboc]

Here's an idea I'm just throwing out for consideration. I'm not saying 
it's true, or that I believe it, but it's not something I've heard 
anyone else say. Maybe it's nonsense, maybe not:

COVID-19 isn't really what's causing our current woes, the internet is.

I'm wondering what things would have been like without the internet, and 
the massive interconnectedness it has brought, all the news, social 
media, instant access to data from all over the world, and instant 
reaction to it.

Certainly, this wouldn't have had any effect on the number of people 
who've died (or if so, maybe more people would have died), but would 
there have been a world-wide panic about it? Would economies have 
suffered such massive damage? Would people be worrying themselves sick 
about it, and dying from not getting treated for other problems?

This virus is not massively lethal, it seems to be comparable to the 
flu. It's certainly not on the level of ebola or rabies. It is pretty 
contagious, though. So there's really nothing at all we can do, on a 
long-term basis, about it spreading all over the globe. And killing a 
small percentage of the people it infects, like so many other diseases.

So I'm wondering how many times something like this has happened in the 
pre-internet past, and we've hardly noticed it?

It seems that there won't be much, if any, evolutionary pressure for 
COVID-19 to evolve into something less lethal, simply because it's not 
that lethal to begin with.

When we compare the death rate of this virus with all the other causes 
of death we deal with all the time, is the reaction really justified? Is 
it really a massive internet-fuelled overreaction?

Maybe one of the lessons to be learned has nothing to do with infectious 
diseases, and everything to do with how we let the internet change our 
lives.

Just to reiterate, I'm not saying this is my opinion, it's just an 
interesting (I reckon) point of view, for discussion.

Please discuss.


-- 
Ben Zaiboc