Swine Flu

[Egapal]

No to sound obtuse but how is applying the grand scheme of things, which is the world we live in, a problem?

Your logic applies to the grande scheme of the planet not the grande scheme of human life.

How is that not relevant to the argument? Again, I am not trying to be dense I just do not understand why you think the selective pressure toward avirulence is irrelevant.

I don't mean to be condescending but, because that's not how selective pressure works. Selective pressure toward avirulence is based on the idea that deadly strains will die out when they kill their hosts. So if we all die then so will the deadly strain. If we don't all die then there is no selective pressure toward avirulence.

The odds of a more deadly strain burning up the entire population are slim though. Once the strain becomes more deadly it tends to burn up the local pocket and then die out because it can not spread.

Yeah not disputing that. The problem is that the size of the pocket is based on how long it takes to kill the host and how noticeable the symptoms are. A more deadly version of the flu could become world wide being transmitted by humans aboard aircraft.

Of course we won't all die but 25% of us dieing is kind of a big deal.