Scientist advocates Killing 90% of world population w/ebola

[jrlinz]

Dr. Eric R Pianka, an evolutionary ecologist with the University of Texas, recieved a standing ovation for a speech he gave at the Texas Academy of Science, enthusiastically advocating extermination of 90% of the world human population using airborne ebola virus, a particularly nasty, painful way to die. 
These are distinguished scientists, applauding this murderous psycho.  What has science come to?  Why is he even allowed to teach, instead of being confined to a cell, heavily medicated, under observation? They should all be encarcerated, Psychologically evaluated.  This is extremely sick, sociopathic thinking.  How do you feel about it?

[Cowpox]

I think, if Dr. Pianka and his colleagues went to school for one more year, they wouldn't know nothing ! The real problem with those involved with academia is, that they have been in school from the time they were six years old, to date. They have studied the real world, but have never lived in it . I have a kid brother (22 years my junior) who went to college for ten years to get a Doctorate in Astro Physics (Yup, a real rocket scientist), and now teaches same at Annapolis MD. At some point, he had to start wearing slip-on shoes, because he forgot how to run shoe laces ?

[jpsmith1]

If the 'good' doctor was advocating using an engineered virus, then he would be a lunatic.  To release somehting like that upon the population of the world would be unthinkable.  Possibly worse than using nuclear weapons.  An airborne ebola virus would be an absolute nightmare.  The only thing that could prevent it from killing more than 90% of the population is the fact that it is so amazingly and RAPIDLY lethal.  Ebola kills in just over a week, so it has a short contagious period before the person falls victim to the virus.  Actually, the first to die with an airborne ebola would be medical staff.

From reading a little into the first post, this doctor is an 'evolutionary ecologist'.  Was he in fact WARNING against the possibilty of the Ebola virus mutating into an airborne form and thus wiping out 90% of the human race.  This actually sounds like a more plausible scenario to me.  Maybe he was stumping for more grant money to study a vaccine for Ebola.

[Land_Owner]

THEORETICALLY SPEAKING...

Would you be among the group that struggles to survive in the decades after a global catastrophy (see Kevin Costner's "Postman" and "Waterworld"), where Might is Right (see Mel Gibson's "The Road Warrior" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"), where survival was a means and not an end (see Harlen Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" http://www.badmovies.org/movies/boyanddog/)?  You guessed it, I've been watching too many fiction movies and I liked these.

Can you imagine the loss of technology?  No phones, no lights, no motor cars ("Gilligan's Island"?), no "laws" (sort of), no government (for a while), clans, no toilet paper, no coffee, the "automatic" events we take for granted that would no longer operate or worse would operate to other catastrophic end? 

Not much imagination is required to understand the concept that when the food trucks no longer arrive at the local market the capacity to survive will be foremost and Might is Right mentality will prevail until the evolution of Liberals once again permeates (see Gray Beard's Humor and Off Topic Discussions)

World History - As it Really Happened

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[williamlayton]

The worst part---I would have no one too talk too on these forums--well, hummm, let's think about this.
Just kidding
Blessings

[88comingup]

That would not be to bad, if it only got the people we know that are sucking air that some one else could be using. Do you know of any one that could fit in to the list from people that you have meet or know, make's you think doesn't it. When i moved to springfield i meet alot of them. Make's me want to run back to st.louis or back to the hills 

[quickdtoo]

Maybe a little research on the topic is in order...

http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/index.html