Just before we dive in, for the sake of perspicuity, it is important we distinguish between projections and unfounded claims otherwise known as conspiracy theories. I’m aware that over the past few weeks, propaganda campaigns and misinformation have taken the centre stage. The nature of social media platforms has a way of smashing social contexts into one another so that messages tailored for one audience end up hitting others as well and being interpreted in unanticipated ways.
However, the truth is nobody really knows how or where this virus originates from precisely, and like every other major event that have reshaped the world for centuries, many concocted stories have come up, including 5G technology, China’s gameplay and Bill Gates’ interests in vaccines. Many conspiracy theories could be true, but the beauty of these mystifying tales is that they are passed on from one generation to another, but humanity hardly ever find the facts.
This post is a throwback to a Ted Talk in 2015 where Bill Gates predicted a rise in epidemics and a call for governments to be prepared. When Ellen DeGeneres had a virtual chat with Gates on her show a few days back, he said something that struck me, something that every brilliant, super-connected and 1% wealthy human like him would easily care or take out time to think about. He mentioned that after the 2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he could tell that was the beginning of more viruses that could disrupt human existences. Indeed Zika came after, but it was short-lived. Bill Gates noted that he and his wife, Melinda, through their foundation have made efforts to prepare for an unprecedented epidemic since then. Even if Bill Gates guessed all these things, he couldn’t tell what exactly the virus would be or do.
If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war, not missiles but microbes. We have invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents, but we’ve actually invested very little in a system to stop an epidemic. We’re not ready for the next epidemic.”
The reason for his call in 2015 was so governments could join in the work to prepare for another deadly outbreak. During his talk, Gates touched on the lack of epidemiologists “ready to go to West Africa to assess Ebola and its spread, how it was being diagnosed, or which treatment approaches should be used, hinting that the next outbreak could be more devastating than Ebola. Next time, we might not be so lucky, he said.
