A Vaccine for Luddites

jody2.718 jody2.718 at protonmail.com
Sun Jan 10 19:14:57 UTC 2021


I remember back in late March when the Pandemic was just beginning to accelerate in the U.S., sitting at a nursing station
and looking over at a tall black woman clerk, whom I adore- although shes smokes- and through mask and face shield
commenting, "Well, if it gets rid of Trump, it will be worth it." She sort of laughed. After 370,000+ dead, including many of
my patients, I'm not so sure about my comment.

And, despite the reality that I have had the virus in my face every day since then, I have somehow managed to avoid becoming
infected.

Given that, I was really happy to be able to get the vaccine- Pfizer-BioNtech version. I just got the second dose Friday. I feel fine-
somewhat elated, actually, that maybe I can relax a little bit while making my daily rounds. But it's not surprising to me that some
of my colleagues, and other front line personnel I have encountered, are resistant to being vaccinated. I was a little scared myself.
My fear of the inevitability of eventually contracting COVID was stronger, however, and I accepted the vaccine.

But this is a new vaccine- new in the sense of process, not just a vaccine against a new virus. Pandemics, like World Wars, of any
temperature, have a way of stimulating creative technology- all against the backdrop of business as usual human nature, including
the for profit, controlling aspects of human nature. The vaccine represents gains in the social acceptance of biotechnology
that have been brewing for awhile. Per the CDC:

"Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. Interest has grown in these vaccines because
they can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials. This means the process can be standardized and scaled
up, making vaccine development faster than traditional methods of making vaccines. mRNA vaccines have been studied before
for flu, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus (CMV). As soon as the necessary information about the virus that causes COVID-19
was available, scientists began designing the mRNA instructions for cells to build the unique spike protein into an mRNA vaccine.
Future mRNA vaccine technology may allow for one vaccine to provide protection for multiple diseases, thus decreasing the
number of shots needed for protection against common vaccine-preventable diseases. Beyond vaccines, cancer research has
used mRNA to trigger the immune system to target specific cancer cells."

Times have changed since Robert Goddard's uphill climb to prove his case for the viability of rocket technology. Biotech
proceeds apace, aided, of course, by swarms of venture, and in this case, federally directed capital (with private connections, natch).

And it is not just against viral invaders which the technique of mRNA insertion might come to be directed. Imagination is boundless.
One thinks about the telomeres capping and protecting the chromosomes in our cells that shorten with each division as they approach
their own Hayflick limit and inevitable demise.

"...Luddites may at last have come to stand on common ground with their Snovian adversaries, the cheerful army of technocrats who
were supposed to have the 'future in their bones.' It may be only a new form of the perennial Luddite ambivalence about machines,
or it may be that the deepest Luddite hope of miracle has now come to reside in the computer's ability to get the right data to those
whom the data will do the most good. With the proper deployment of budget and computer time, we will cure cancer, save ourselves
from nuclear extinction, grow food for everybody, detoxify the results of industrial greed gone berserk - realize all the wistful pipe
dreams of our days..."

Until then- Mask up.

jody

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