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Comment by rustyhancock | Hacker News Reader

It's not prophetic. Prophetic means it predicts the future, this is epidimlogical science being applied as intended. It didn't predict the future it designed it because we applied it.

Contagion used GPS logging to predict who was where an applied a random transmission risk based on that.

The actual origin of the Bluetooth proximity and duration tracking was from FluPhone back in 2010 or so[0]

Human contact networks, and epidemiology is a long standing science COVID just made that apparent for the lay public.

Quarantines have existed for centuries, contact tracing is Victorian (smallpox mostly),social distancing, It was all application of research that largely already existed.

[0] https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/projects/archive...

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Since you seems well versed in the matter...Did we learn something new from the whole covid experience?

> Did we learn something new from the whole covid experience?

The hardest part of a 5 day snap lockdown are the first 10 weeks.

Yes: * That you sell a six month lockdown by saying it will take two or three weeks. You can do this several times.

* That censorship is essential.

* That any public disagreement will be responded to with terms of personal abuse.

* That you can use it to introduce/try out all kinds of other long-desired schemes like digital ID (so called passports) or increasing working from home.

And that it will clearly show, without any doubt, the people who will cling to fringe beliefs to justify their lack of empathy.

Many of the decisions made were not scientific, nor were they compassionate. Despite claims to the contrary. Permitting intercontinental flights and Amazon delivery cannot be construed as either. In fact flights would be one of the biggest vectors.

History shows that the biggest danger from humans is when they follow leaders' statements without question. They are capable of anything when their personal responsibility is outsourced. Obedience is not always a virtue.

Dissidence =/= fringe beliefs

I certainly see the near abandonment of vulnerable groups such as addicts and the elderly as unempathetic. I knew some people who died that way, including one who drank himself to death due to complete lack of offline support.

...so nothing about epidemiology

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