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Comment by diminoten | Hacker News Reader

I've never really bought these doomsday scenario claims, if only because I feel like innovation is constantly taking place, and these projections necessarily assume no new innovations (how could they predict innovation, after all?).

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I agree. Furthermore, now that people are accustomed to not dieing all the time, even with no new technology, we would probably tolerate more serious measures to maintain this safety. Even if it came to draconian quarantine and hygene laws, or just wearing a face mask every day.

Remember how Ebola didn't cause an epidemic in any moderately developed country despite being one of the easiest diseases to transmit?

  Ebola didn't cause an epidemic in any moderately developed country
  despite being one of the easiest diseases to transmit?

Ebola isn't airborne, and an infected person isn't contagious until they start to present symptoms. Although it's a very serious disease, its presentation makes an outbreak relatively easy to recognise and control.

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