306
it is some consolation that the desolation by these maniacs of one part of the earth
is the means of improving it in other parts.”
13
As matters of civic, triage-threatened ethics dominate the life of Homo sapiens
across the earth, in the widest throes of a new virus exponentially spreading (thus
far, as of the Summer 2020, only the Antarctic free of it), these human designated
geopolitical boundary areas have no mechanism, as nation-states comprising victims and people with opinions, to work well together. We have no idea whether the
novel Covid-19 virus appears anywhere in the oceans (there are an estimated 10
31
viral species that do), or atop Himalayan peaks, or in countless other places.
14
Only
humans seem to fit a model of the optimal vector (although it is understood to be a
gregarious virus, one that could perhaps destroy all remaining gorillas and chimpanzees and likely other primates, as well as felines and canids, should its spread and
half-dozen mutations go unchecked). But Covid-19 appears common and doing no
harm to most other species, including “camels, cattle, cats, and bats” which contain
it, at no detriment to themselves.
15
While fewer than 6000 viruses have been
described to any extent, it is believed that there could be as many as “100,939,140”
other viruses in the world, over 320,000 of them—12 most notoriously so—attacking mammals.
16
With possibly hundreds of thousands+ species going extinct every year from
among the numerous phyla and categories of organisms that have been described to
date,
17
we may assume that our best efforts to save life forms, even if modeled after
the character and style of heroic first responders—whether in emergency rooms in
Madrid or Queens, or among penguin colonies suffering from Antarctic heat
spells—have not yet agreed to agree upon uniformly efficacious and compassionate
plans of action, triage criteria, or ultimate goals during this one generation of
humans, which could be its last. This is solid ground for philosophically waxing
upon anything remotely beyond our own hospital beds. Thus far, humanity has not
shown a collective capacity for coping with biological entropy.
13 Writings Of Thomas Jefferson, 1816–1826, Volume X., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1899,
p. 217
14 See https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. Accessed March 26, 2020.
15 See https://www.centura.org/COVID-19, Accessed March 26, 2020.
16 “How Many Viruses on Earth?” September 6 2013, Virology Blog, by Vincent Racaniello.
September 9, 2013, http://www.virology.ws/2013/09/06/how-many-viruses-on-earth/. Accessed
March 27, 2020.
17 See Rudyshyn, S; Samilyk, V (2015). “Development of Knowledge of the Taxonomy and
Phylogeny of Living Organisms for Future Biology Teachers”. The Advanced Science Journal.
2015 (1): 75–82. https://doi.org/10.15550/ASJ.2015.01.075; See also, Woese, Carl R.; Kandler,
Otto; Wheelis, Mark L. (1990). “Towards a Natural System of Organisms: Proposal for the
Domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America. 87 (12): 4576–9. Bibcode:1990PNAS...87.4576W. https://doi.
org/10.1073/pnas.87.12.4576. PMC 54159. PMID 2112744; See also, Cavalier-Smith, T. (2004).
“Only six kingdoms of life”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 271 (1545):
1251–62. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2705. PMC 1691724. PMID 15306349
33 Moral Choices in an Epoch of Angst
it is some consolation that the desolation by these maniacs of one part of the earth
is the means of improving it in other parts.”
13
As matters of civic, triage-threatened ethics dominate the life of Homo sapiens
across the earth, in the widest throes of a new virus exponentially spreading (thus
far, as of the Summer 2020, only the Antarctic free of it), these human designated
geopolitical boundary areas have no mechanism, as nation-states comprising victims and people with opinions, to work well together. We have no idea whether the
novel Covid-19 virus appears anywhere in the oceans (there are an estimated 10
31
viral species that do), or atop Himalayan peaks, or in countless other places.
14
Only
humans seem to fit a model of the optimal vector (although it is understood to be a
gregarious virus, one that could perhaps destroy all remaining gorillas and chimpanzees and likely other primates, as well as felines and canids, should its spread and
half-dozen mutations go unchecked). But Covid-19 appears common and doing no
harm to most other species, including “camels, cattle, cats, and bats” which contain
it, at no detriment to themselves.
15
While fewer than 6000 viruses have been
described to any extent, it is believed that there could be as many as “100,939,140”
other viruses in the world, over 320,000 of them—12 most notoriously so—attacking mammals.
16
With possibly hundreds of thousands+ species going extinct every year from
among the numerous phyla and categories of organisms that have been described to
date,
17
we may assume that our best efforts to save life forms, even if modeled after
the character and style of heroic first responders—whether in emergency rooms in
Madrid or Queens, or among penguin colonies suffering from Antarctic heat
spells—have not yet agreed to agree upon uniformly efficacious and compassionate
plans of action, triage criteria, or ultimate goals during this one generation of
humans, which could be its last. This is solid ground for philosophically waxing
upon anything remotely beyond our own hospital beds. Thus far, humanity has not
shown a collective capacity for coping with biological entropy.
13 Writings Of Thomas Jefferson, 1816–1826, Volume X., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1899,
p. 217
14 See https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/. Accessed March 26, 2020.
15 See https://www.centura.org/COVID-19, Accessed March 26, 2020.
16 “How Many Viruses on Earth?” September 6 2013, Virology Blog, by Vincent Racaniello.
September 9, 2013, http://www.virology.ws/2013/09/06/how-many-viruses-on-earth/. Accessed
March 27, 2020.
17 See Rudyshyn, S; Samilyk, V (2015). “Development of Knowledge of the Taxonomy and
Phylogeny of Living Organisms for Future Biology Teachers”. The Advanced Science Journal.
2015 (1): 75–82. https://doi.org/10.15550/ASJ.2015.01.075; See also, Woese, Carl R.; Kandler,
Otto; Wheelis, Mark L. (1990). “Towards a Natural System of Organisms: Proposal for the
Domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America. 87 (12): 4576–9. Bibcode:1990PNAS...87.4576W. https://doi.
org/10.1073/pnas.87.12.4576. PMC 54159. PMID 2112744; See also, Cavalier-Smith, T. (2004).
“Only six kingdoms of life”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 271 (1545):
1251–62. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2705. PMC 1691724. PMID 15306349
33 Moral Choices in an Epoch of Angst