Immunity Quotes
This quotation is important because it illustrates a problem in medical education and science in general that inhibits development and advancement in the field. The existing belief of most people in the field may not only be wrong, but as in this case, it had to be wrong as both of the statements could not be true at the same time as they contradicted each other. Most researchers were stuck with the “killed virus” development. Salk just assumed that what he was being taught was wrong, and proceeded with his research ignoring the best thinking on the subject and finally developing a “live virus” that worked when others claimed it was impossible and some refused to believe it even after it was demonstrated to be working well. Scientists, like everyone else, must be careful not to have their thinking limited by what the experts of the time think that they know.
This warning was a decade before the Meltdown of 2008, but was not heeded by any of the politicians. As a result a number of the companies that made all those risky decisions assumed that if something went terribly wrong the government would not let them fail. Unfortunately, they were right and the taxpayers spent billions to prevent companies from failing. After the meltdown all the politicians vowed to end the too big to fail concept, but while some improvements were made, the Congress could not come to agreement, and the markets and a number of companies think that they are still too big to fail. This is particularly true for Defense Contractors where the government has and probably will in the future, protect irresponsible companies from failure if they are the only company that makes needed weapons and other equipment.
The white Europeans had over centuries built up immunity to some of the worst infectious diseases but when they first landed in the New World brought smallpox and other deadly diseases to which the Indians had no immunity.
