From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Mon May 12 2003 - 16:22:46 MDT
I don't know why people are so afraid of admitting that we don't know
everything. SARS is new. We don't know if it will spread or die out. We
don't know if it will be easily cured or immune to all medicines. All these
predictions on both extremes are meaningless. They are just guesses made
without evidence. Those who say it will become an unstoppable epidemic that
will cripple the planet may be right, but there is no evidence for that.
Those who say this is a minor bug and won't do as much harm as existing
pneumonias or malaria may be right, but there is no evidence of that either.
Worse, each side attacks the other as being fear-mongerers or
truth-suppressors. Why the vitriol? And why is each side so sure they are
right and the other is wrong? Until there is evidence to support a
conclusion, everybody is just guessing. None of them are right. No matter
how this pans out, both sides are making conclusions out of thin air. They
are both betting what they think or hope might happen, but the winner in the
end has no superiority for correctly predicting the outcome.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, IAM, GSEC, IBMCP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> <www.Newstaff.com>
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