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by user_501238901 2143 days ago
There basically wasn't a proper "modern day" pandemic before this. The previous one was the spanish flu in 1918 which was very quickly forgotten due to a much larger pointless massacre (world wars)

Air travel increase is a big factor why it got so bad so quickly, even in the past two decades basically everything has changed. We have hundreds millions of people basically teleporting between continents every day.
3 comments
jcranmer 2143 days ago
There have been 3 flu pandemics since 1918: 1957, 1968, 2009. In addition, cholera and AIDS have had non-influenza pandemics in the same timeframe, and there's a clutch of infectious diseases with little spread that qualify as pandemics by the definition of sustained spread in two countries in different regions of the world (e.g., mumps). MERS might also qualify by the definition.
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wcoenen 2143 days ago
> We have hundreds millions of people basically teleporting between continents every day

That's hyperbole. In 2019 there were 4.5 billion passengers boarding a flight[1]. Divide by 365 days and you get on the order of 10 million per day, most of which will not be intercontinental.

I don't disagree about the amount of air travel nowadays facilitating pandemics, just wanted to get the numbers straight.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/564717/airline-industry-...

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tomglynch 2143 days ago
You are arguing a very minor point.
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wcoenen 2142 days ago
I appreciate the feedback, it feels better than getting only downvotes. I thought it was an important point because the number was off by at least an order of magnitude, maybe two. But I can see how my response might have been seen as pedantic.
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heavenlyblue 2143 days ago
>> pointless massacre

You’re implying as if wars happen because people are all angry and if they just happened to be kinder then all of that would be resolved immediately.

It’s discounting a bunch of pragmatic reasons a lot of which have nothing to do with philosophy or human condition.

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ivalm 2143 days ago
Not immediately, but life was worse for basically all participants (at least the major powers that precipitated wwi)
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