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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

So, the article doesn't say much, because Ed didn't say much. However, let's talk anyway.

the thing that comes to mind on this topic is surveillance of drug users, sufferers chronic illness and the emotionally ill. The digital tracking of heart rate, blood pressure, and other quantifiable biometrics will allow the state and capital to predict the emergence of what they might term "biodefense vulnerabilities". Under a capitalist healthcare regime, this mean externalizing costs by shunting people who deviate from biotypical norms into a high risk pool, or otherwise stigmatizing them within bureaucracy that they are made dependent on. Or both, if your society is just that warm & cuddly.

Ultimately people are kidding themselves if they think these "emergency powers" will be eased after the vaccine is developed. This opportunity will probably not be wasted by power. The system profits from our fear, dependency, and isolation. As the planet reveals itself as hollowed out for resources, and margins thin, this novel pandemic-- the first of many in the 3rd millenium-- is a great gift to the teetering hierarchies around us.

Hope that they can have too much of a "good" thing. Otherwise, we are fucked lmfao

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exvegan wrote

Well let's be realistic, if we don't give up some of our autonomy right now, millions could die. It's all well and good to say this will give governments more power in the long term, but when we're talking life and death in the short term, ideology isn't that important.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Millions will die regardless. Quarantine actually increases the death toll from the virus, and prolongs its lytic duration. The only purpose is to avoid breaking the fragile hospital network.

Power created this crisis through its drive for profit, and now its forcing average people to cower in their homes-- if they have any. One of the most dystopian things I've ever seen is a video recorded by a friend of their local police using loudspeakers on military vehicles to tell a group of houseless people to "disperse and shelter in place"

The elite is more likely to carry these diseases because they travel more, and they're more likely to die because they're older and physically weaker, than the median. Their choice to institute curfews is not altruistic, in defense of the immunocompromised. It is simply a way to preserve their own power and tighten the vice of authoritarianism.

The alternative to forcing militarized rule on civilians is to simply close nonessential business, provide for the needs of the people, postpone large gatherings and forgive all debts in a jubilee. This crisis should be an opportunity to slow down & start over as a society. Instead, it is being used mostly as a way to intensify the processes that got us here.

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Catsforfun wrote

How does quarantine increase lytic cycle

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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

On the individual human scale, by promoting a variety of psychobiological stressors which make infected persons on average more symptomatic and transmissible. Ergo, promoting lytic over lysomatic cycling at any given time for an infected person.

On the epidemiological scale, by maintaining and even increasing the area under the curve while flattening it out, thus creating a larger number of infections ovrr a longer period of time. Ergo more lytic cycles within the population over the epidemic duration

I wrote a post about this actually, with citations.

edit: misspoke

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rot wrote

Saw this with the push for mobilizing the national guard and policing curfews despite neither slowing the virus.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

yeah, honestly the police and military have historically been hotbeds of disease during every pandemic i can think of. barracks aren't good for social distancing, so it's ironic that this is the justification for deploying, rather than disbanding the military lol

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Shabby wrote

Never waste a good crisis.

Also:

We gave them the ability to track us by cell phones by purchasing them and carrying them around all the time. We purchased the always listening microphones and connected them to the internet. We agreed to the fine print that means our ISPs can monitor our traffic. We check into our social media consistently to provide updated photos for facial recognition. Anyone who didn't realize this was happening is an idiot.

We gave them this power willingly and they can't prevent us taking it away. It's simple. Disconnect your phone and internet.

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