But with our mastery of science, we have come to forget how really dangerous they can be.

Of course, our problem now is not scientific, we know how to stop epidemics, or at least, control them.

Our problem is now managerial and political. We know perfectly well how to fight diseases, we just can't get our shit together well enough to do it.

Managerial because we can no longer construct organizational structures capable of dealing with the problem. People are too busy looking out after number one to be able to function effectively as a community. Its all simply become too complicated for us (and our computers) to deal with.

Political because the marshaling of resources to deal with the problem is too expensive, or inconvenient, (or embarrassing) for our leadership to deal with.

Think about it, we are faced with the possibility of American world leadership (and maybe Western Civilization) being severely damaged because it might be threatening to Donald Trump's ego, and the Republican party's profits.

In WWII, great cities under siege demonstrated they could continue to function, and even fight back, in the face of massive casualties and daily aerial bombardment. People ate the draft animals, then the pets, and finally even the rats.

And just think, they didn't have the ability to do their shopping online. When our electricity goes off we'll have to resort to eating each other.