I agree with others that state that AIDS is a pandemic, but I want to also agree with what the OP is saying when comparing AIDS and a virus such as one would find in the movie Outbreak. For me the difference is a matter of time. AIDS is horrible and is having and will continue to be having a major impact on our world dynamics and culture for years to come. But it is also something that one can live with (as of right now) for many years. Thus causing the ability for our culture to better deal with it. The virus in the Outbreak movie is a different time frame than AIDS in that the spread of the virus happened very rapidly. I think that is the major difference in the fictionall pandemic virus (or a more real pandemic such as a small pox outbreak) and AIDS. Movies like Outbreak scare me. I know it is fictional, but the though of something spreading so fast and we as a society have so little control over what is going on just plain freaks me out.


On another side. i have a good friend in the Army and she knows that I like my weird conspiracy theories and what if thoughts. her and I have talked about a number of situations like this and she is convinced that the military has means to prevent a total collapse of the government. That is not to say that millions of people would not die, but according to her the government would be able to protect itself.

The conspiracy theorist in me responds to her and says that just because the government could survive does not mean that there would not be major curruption (see the TV Show Jerico) and that the survivors of this virus pandemic would go back to leading our normal lives just like before, but maybe this is where i start to loose people cause I admit it does sound a little crazy to talk about such things.

Ah, Jericho, I will miss thee. Twas a good show.

I agree, but I think people would be more freaked about the virus itself. What would totally freak me out is how it would effect our everyday living. See, I'm thinking about how all the companies that provide the critical infrastucture of modern society like energy, transport, food, water, telecoms ect. that would face serious problems if key workers fail to show up for work because of the virus. The fact is the best way for people to avoid the virus will be to stay home. But if everyone does this, or if too many people try to stockpile supplies after a crisis begins, like I was saying before, the impact of a relatively minor pandemic could quickly multiply.

I think what the biggest problem is that planners for pandemics tend to overlook the fact that modern societies are becoming ever more tightly connected, which means any disturbance can cascade rapidly through many sectors. For example. Like, what if the power goes off? This is where I think the complex interdependencies could prove extreme total drama. Refineries make diesel fuel not only for trucks but also for trains that deliver coal to electricity generators, which I'm sure don't have a high reserve supply. The coal mines need electricity to keep working. Also pumping oil through pipelines and water through mains also requires electricity. I don't know that much about it, but I do know that making electricity depends largely on coal, and getting coal depends on electricity. On top of that, they all need refineries and key people, and people need transportation, food and clean water. If one part of the system starts to fail, the whole thing could go. If something like this were to happen, we could switch to hydro and nuclear power but we would still have to depend on highly trained staff.