Modern Wisdom · 2026-07-23 · 97 min · 15,730 words

Something Scary Is Happening In Biolabs - Annie Jacobsen - #1127

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Last time we talked was about how we could blow ourselves to death. And this time we're talking about how we could infect ourselves to death. Which one's scarier, nuclear war or biological war? S equally scary in completely different ways. I think, you know, with nuclear war, the response to that was so many people calling me up and saying, like, okay, I read your book.

I just want to die instantly. Biological war is tricky and scary because you don't have to die instantly and then you have to wonder, I wish I did. That's the sort of bad news first. That is there any good news with biological war? There is because

it can be prevented. I mean, unlike nuclear war, which is like a just an event that happens without warning, it's literally called an event without warning. Biological war is event with warning. And that warning window, it's literally like 12, 24, 36 hours max, but that is the window of time when something can be done. Why do you think biological warfare receives so little public attention compared with nuclear war?

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