How quickly things change
I have been watching "Twelve Monkeys," an SF series based on the apocalyptic pandemic movie of the same name. It's a solidly well produced show which does its best to be scientifically plausible (insofar as a show about time travel can be). But it was made 6 or 7 years ago, and what seemed plausible then sounds really dated now.
We've just been introduced to a cohort of scientists, barricaded inside a well-supplied and prosperous scientific hospital, who have been trying to "cure the virus" for almost 30 years. Specifically, they have devoted every resource at their disposal to trying to create a vaccine. After 20 years they were right on the verge of a working vaccine, but THEN THE VIRUS MUTATED! *gasp* So they had to start all over! Worse yet, there are signs that the virus is starting to mutate again! Oh no! Naturally the more ragtag group of scientists that we have been rooting for so far realizes that this is a fools' errand, because nobody can create a working vaccine that fast. We the viewers are invited to agree with them and view the lead scientist of the Spearpoint Project as most likely inspired more by his status as a cult leader than by any reasonable expectation of developing a vaccine against a virus that can mutate as often as twice in 30 years! Ridiculous. Our group is going to keep trying to perfect their buggy time travel machine instead.
IRL in 2022 we are upset because when faced with a virus that has developed multiple significant mutations in 2 years time, the vaccine that we developed (in 12 months) is becoming gradually less effective. And it might take as long as THREE MORE MONTHS to develop a new vaccine that will better target the emerging variants. Unacceptable!
This entry was originally posted at https://dreamshark.dreamwidth.org/583517.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
We've just been introduced to a cohort of scientists, barricaded inside a well-supplied and prosperous scientific hospital, who have been trying to "cure the virus" for almost 30 years. Specifically, they have devoted every resource at their disposal to trying to create a vaccine. After 20 years they were right on the verge of a working vaccine, but THEN THE VIRUS MUTATED! *gasp* So they had to start all over! Worse yet, there are signs that the virus is starting to mutate again! Oh no! Naturally the more ragtag group of scientists that we have been rooting for so far realizes that this is a fools' errand, because nobody can create a working vaccine that fast. We the viewers are invited to agree with them and view the lead scientist of the Spearpoint Project as most likely inspired more by his status as a cult leader than by any reasonable expectation of developing a vaccine against a virus that can mutate as often as twice in 30 years! Ridiculous. Our group is going to keep trying to perfect their buggy time travel machine instead.
IRL in 2022 we are upset because when faced with a virus that has developed multiple significant mutations in 2 years time, the vaccine that we developed (in 12 months) is becoming gradually less effective. And it might take as long as THREE MORE MONTHS to develop a new vaccine that will better target the emerging variants. Unacceptable!
This entry was originally posted at https://dreamshark.dreamwidth.org/583517.html. Please comment there using OpenID.