Eugine_Nier comments on Mini advent calendar of Xrisks: synthetic biology - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 04 December 2012 11:15AM

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Comment author: Eugine_Nier 07 December 2012 01:50:36AM 2 points [-]

But the "host's tribe wiped out" version is probably moot now. Transmitting a pathogen beyond one's immediate "tribe" is surely much easier in airports full of friendly people than it was on footpaths connecting sometimes-hostile neighbors.

It's still possible for a plague to be so virulent that it kills its host before he has a chance to spread it too widely. Ebola comes to mind.