Has anybody else read The White Plague by Frank Herbert? It was
published in 1982, but it is still very relevant to the current
discussion. One man, driven by the murder of his wife and children,
creates a plague that targets women, and is 100% deadly. Like most (all?)
of Herbert's works, this book tracks the lives of the powerful and
influential. The decisions that the president of the US has to make are
very grim indeed.
I would reccomend this book to anyone looking for a well thought
out analysis on the potential effects of a deadly engineered plague. I
actually don't think a rhino/ebola virus combo would be quite as bad as
the white plague, because ebola is deadly to just about everyone in a
short amount of time and there are no asymptomatic carriers. Of course,
you have to read the book to see that "not as bad" is no great comfort.
Dan Hook
"So high, so low, so many things to know." -- V. Vinge
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:35:41 MDT