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Charlie Stross: an alternative explanation for the uptick in road deaths
I found this nugget interesting. Charlie Stross is a British sci-fi author, but also a generally astute commentator on technology and politics on his blog. Here he suggests mass cognitive damage from COVID-19 as one of the causes.
We're surrounded by the signs of pervasive low-level brain damage on every side. Having come through an acute pandemic wave of COVID19 in 2020, governments everywhere now seem to be in denial that the pandemic is ongoing—and we have vaccines that diminish the acute impact of the virus from life-threatening to merely "a bad cold". But it's not a bad cold! It causes widespread inflammation throughout the lining of the blood vessels, including the brain's circulatory system. Cognitive damage is apparent and is one of the symptoms of long COVID: it causes symptoms ranging from stroke and Parkinsonism to dyscalcula and even dementia. If you've noticed poor, erratic, or angry driving in the past couple of years, road manners are one of the more evident signs of what's going on. Cars are a proxy for bodies in public space and elderly drivers are notoriously bad; we're now seeing a lot of aggressive, oblivious, and inexplicably bad driving behaviour routinely, and an uptick in accident rates. There may be other less obvious side-effects: I suspect the angry political discourse is to some extent inflamed by the brain inflammation of the folks who think COVID19 is over.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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Latest Comments
- HKR 16 min 57 sec ago
The sentencing for "driving offences" (let's just call them crimes) like this are an absolute joke - a totally unfunny one....
- eburtthebike 7 hours 58 min ago
But of course that entire generation was wiped out because they weren't wearing a helmet.
- HoarseMann 8 hours 12 min ago
It's only 999 if it's a threat to life or a crime in progress. Once the perp has driven off and there's no longer a threat, it's a 101 job.
- chrisonabike 9 hours 9 min ago
Another I'd missed last month:...
- andystow 9 hours 31 min ago
Wow! This is a place I go to a few times a year, but it's right across the parking lot from the pub I go to weekly.
- lonpfrb 10 hours 12 min ago
This administration has the opportunity missed by the previous one to join up the departments to address the fact that capable people just don't...
- stonojnr 10 hours 46 min ago
I'd question how did the driver heard the swearing to make such a complaint....
- mark1a 11 hours 43 min ago
Thankfully, there was a massive clue at the top of the article.
- john_smith 2 hours 6 min ago
"Not really - use of the word 'accident' implies that an incident was unavoidable."...
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11 comments
Call me miserable, but I don't think that astute commentators (a) make such claims without even pointing to evidence, or (b) believe that a 'north polar ice sheet' exists. I guess arctic sea ice is what is meant for b, but the difference between sea ice and ice sheets is akin to the difference between butterflies and whales.
Well, as I always said about Covid: at least it didn't turn into a Rage epidemic or the zombie apocalypse…
...yet
I didn't expect to see Charles Stross mentioned here - I'm a big fan of The Laundry Files (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files ) which are like a modern day, humorous take on Lovecraftian horror, but with a lot more bureacracy.
I liked them when it was all still secret. I kind of lost interest once magic was brought out in the open.
I still remember his main character being so dismissive of "the Jesus Phone" (the iPhone) in the earliest novels…
I prefer the earlier novels too, when he seemed to be having a lot more fun with the ideas. I thought The Annhilation Score was a low point, but I enjoyed the elves in the follow up book The Nightmare Stacks.
For anyone that wants to read a sample for free, there's Equoid available online: https://reactormag.com/equoid/
I don't think I got that far. The last one I remember reading was the one with vampires.
I'm a big fan, too. I just finished Season of Skulls. Definitely loved the first few more than some of the recent ones, though.
Interesting idea * - however some of the folks most exercised were apparently already kicking off right at the start. Could have been asymptomatic perhaps?
There were also some well-documented outbreaks of widespread teeth-gnashing before...
For fascinating stories (and backstories) of these times I recommend John Ronson's "then things fell apart ".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011cpr
* these kinds of things make me think of Edward de Bono's idea for peace
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/de-bono-s-marmite-plan-for-peace-in-m...
Second the recommendation, but a minor correction for anyone trying to find it - it's just "Things fell apart" - no 'then'.