= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Gunnar_Zarncke comments on Open thread, Mar. 9 - Mar. 15, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (109)
Apparently first bumps are a much more hygienic alternative to the handshake . This has been reported e.g. here, here and here.
I wonder whether I should try to get adoption of this as a greeting among my friends. It might also be an alternative to the sometime awkward choice between handshake and hug (though this is probably a regional cultural issue).
And I wonder whether the LW community has an idea on this and whether that might be advanced in some way. Or whether is just a misguided hype.
I think people with a functioning immune system should not attempt to limit their exposure to microorganisms (except in the obvious cases like being in Liberia half a year ago). It's both useless and counterproductive.
I tend to think so too, but
there are people with very varying strengths of immune systems
the strength of the immune system changes over time (I notice that older people both tend to be ill less often and also to be more cautions regarding infections)
handshakes are a strong social protocol that not everybody can evade easily.
you could still intentionally expose yourself to microorganisms
There's also a difference between exposing yourself to microorganisms and exposing yourself to high levels of one particular one that is shedding from someone that has already caused them illness.