Technically, yeah.

But if we want a full perspective, we should include the people who are told in places including South Africa that having sex with virgins or babies can prevent or cure AIDS. Also consider the "out of sight, out of mind" approach to STDs and other diseases that is rampant in national and international communities where a lack of education/information interwines with a lack of resources?

I think of that Always commercial about the little girls in African communities who can't go to school because of their menstrual cycles. Imagine what's going on in similar areas when it comes to safe sex and STDs?

well you all are correct...

I am also looking at the fact that the fastest growing rate of new cases are among women, especially Black women so I figure no matter how we slice it...there is a huge problem on our hands as to how HIV and AIDS are both being dealt with worldwide.

Huge problem, yes.

A huge problem that we may all experience by merely coexisting, no.

But PLEASE sound the alarm when the government finishes developing that AIDS mosquito.

YES!!!! DSTCHAOS, you are right on.

Daemon, I'm not against anything you've said, it's just that AIDS isn't really effecting the things we need to survive. Who's to say that what's going on in Africa won't happen over here but on a much larger degree? I'm not sure if you know this, but cities typically have only three days worth of food, so if you think about it, civilizations being just three or four meals away from anarchy isn't taken seriously enough. No one, including me seems to think about running out of food or water. In the United States, plans for dealing with a pandemic call for people to keep at least three weeks worth of food and water stockpiled. How many of us are actually doing that? My kitty has more food and water stockpiled than I do.:p (she's so adorable)

Personally, I think 10 weeks is better, because how long would your stocks last if shops emptied and your water supply dried up? Even if everyone were willing, many people might not be able to afford to stockpile enough food. AIDS really doesn't effect us in this way, at least not to a degree where everyone is effected by it.

conspiracy theory thread please...

@Cheerful--if there EVER was a heinous virus or infection that murdered gajillions of people over broad ranges of climates and Earth with other elements, you had better believe the current policy is a "Scorched Earth Policy" with studies 500 feet below the Earth with the BEST minds on Earth...

The odds? I professionally think that humans are genetically diverse enough that there will be a few survivors to allow for reproduction and procreation.

@Daemond--HIV infects broadly in Africa because women have ZERO control over their sexuality and bodies. Women are brutalized, raped and demeaned so bad, that they would prefer to commit suicide, than to suffer the inhumanity they have suffered... As long as it is thought to be normal to stick guns up women's and girls' vaginas and anuses, then the transmission on HIV will continue...

I think I may be misunderstanding you, but are you saying that a collapse of civilization is impossible? You're saying that we would be able to come out of this, correct?:confused:

Civilization as we know it will collapse eventually, inevitably. It has happened before throughout history. Has it happened to humans due to infectious diseases? I would not say that it has, completely and somehow, humans have managed to scrape by when it comes to these things... It is thought that the ONLY mass human extinctions thought to occur to a group of human beings was smallpox... Variola vera, is highly contagious, but it does not stop procreation and reproduction. There are viruses out there that can stop procreation and reproduction, however, the problems associated with the infection occurs after those processes are needed, making it a chronic disease of aging. Namely, human papilloma virus and syphillis.

Now, if "the powers that be" genetically modified smallpox to a crazy more infectious agent without possible treatment options, then yes, we humans would not get through that onslaught, MAYBE...

Speaking of Ebola. Y'all should read some of Richard Preston's books. The Hot Zone is really good. All about the 1989 Ebola scare and the secret/covert military operations associated with it.

The Demon in the Freezer is damn good too. All about Smallpox and the threat of biological warfare. Talks all about the virus being eradicated, two stock piles of it being kept for research purposes at the CDC and in Siberia, Iraq and North Korea gaining access to the strains......just really good and frightening.

Thanks for explaining that to me.

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.