The only type of virus that could come close to the 90% kill rate, would be one that remain dormant inside every person. Then when every person it can infect, is infected, it would activate using our comuncation system or entanglement. killing everyone in 48 hours, all around the world…

The bubonic plagues that killed so many peolpe in europe crowed citys, from what i have read were probably cases Ergotism. Most of the plauges occured after a massive amount of rain and flooding, which would have infected the grain. I have read an account of people going crazy, in these outbreaks of so called bubonic plagues.

From what I have seen today, is that viruses are using our immune systems and turning it against us, by the looks of it, viruses have change tactics. It really not the hard to fiqure out why.

let say that; if a virus that can kill 90% of everyone on the planet, by boosting the immune system, was to infect the globe then the only people to survive, would if fact already be infected by AIDS or HIV, who would then die them selfs many years after. I would say we would in fact be facing extinction or a reduction of 98%. leaving about 128 million peolpe if we are lucky.

Extinction in a natural fact, it is more probable that man, will become extinct rather than survive to see the human race leave our solar system, for another.

Ha, I like that.
Never mind about the rest of the world, bird flu could affect the USA!!

I know you probably didn’t mean it that way, but when you phrase it as if the worse thing that could possibly happen is if the disease spread to America…

Quite to the contrary, Pianka laments the destruction of our planet, and the consequent destruction of humans. Anyone with an ounce of rationality would understand that from the speech.

Hey, this is Texas. I don’t care how liberal a group of Texans you have, we sing the Star-Spangled Banner and salute the flag, love our country, apple pie, especially Mom, our spouses and the kids, and we don’t urge the death of billions. There were, by Mims’ account, a couple hundred Texans at that meeting. If Pianka got a standing ovation from that many Texans, you can bet your life that he was not advocating anyone’s death.

The slandering and sliming of Dr. Pianka is just the latest episode in the right-wing’s war on science. Shame on them.

However, if you accept the premise that humanity is not currently keeping a sustainable life style due to the sheer number of us around, then you can interpret Pianka as follows:

1. Humanity should survive.
2. Humanity needs an ecosystem that satisfies certain criteria.
3. Overpopulation threatens to push the ecosystem outside this regime.
4. Population reduction is inevitable either via natural causes or via human intervention.
5. Given humanity’s track record, it’ll probably be natural causes.
Let’s just hope that natural causes leave enough humans around to start the whole circus again (this time without monotheism please).

Take whatever position Lubos has articulated, rotate it 180 degrees and you are probably right.

Elliot