A new viral disease has infected over 100 million people. The disease, however, appears to cause only mild symptoms that disappear after a couple of days, even though the virus lingers in the body for much longer than that. Therefore, the government has not invested in developing a medical cure. According to the theoretical work of a team of well-credentialed, but controversial, biologists, this disease has the potential to cause serious harm a few years after the initial infection. Based on their computer simulations, they predict that the infection may prove lethal in almost half of cases unless patients are cured of the disease. Based on this, the researchers urge the government to rapidly invest in developing a cure. The scientific community, however, predominantly rejects this view. According to a new scientific report, signed by over three hundred leading epidemiologists, medical experts, and biologists in the field, the infection is highly unlikely to cause any serious long-term harm. The report claims that prior laboratory data already rules out the possible biological mechanism that the research team proposed as the cause of long-term fatalities. So according to the majority of the scientific community, there is no cause for concern. The government is considering whether to fund the development and distribution of a medical cure, which they believe would be relatively easy to accomplish. They estimate that this would cost approximately $5 million. Due to a limited budget, the government would need to take that amount from the part of the medical budget that was designated for the overdue upgrade of the technical equipment in the children’s hospital oncology (cancer) section. This upgrade is expected to save the lives of over 3,000 children over the next twenty-five years.

Social Psychology (10th Edition)

10th Edition

ISBN:9780134641287

Author:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers

Publisher:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers

Chapter1: Introducing Social Psychology

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1RQ1

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Viral Disease

A new viral disease has infected over 100 million people. The disease, however, appears to cause only mild symptoms that disappear after a couple of days, even though the virus lingers in the body for much longer than that. Therefore, the government has not invested in developing a medical cure.

According to the theoretical work of a team of well-credentialed, but controversial, biologists, this disease has the potential to cause serious harm a few years after the initial infection. Based on their computer simulations, they predict that the infection may prove lethal in almost half of cases unless patients are cured of the disease. Based on this, the researchers urge the government to rapidly invest in developing a cure.

The scientific community, however, predominantly rejects this view. According to a new scientific report, signed by over three hundred leading epidemiologists, medical experts, and biologists in the field, the infection is highly unlikely to cause any serious long-term harm. The report claims that prior laboratory data already rules out the possible biological mechanism that the research team proposed as the cause of long-term fatalities. So according to the majority of the scientific community, there is no cause for concern.

The government is considering whether to fund the development and distribution of a medical cure, which they believe would be relatively easy to accomplish. They estimate that this would cost approximately $5 million. Due to a limited budget, the government would need to take that amount from the part of the medical budget that was designated for the overdue upgrade of the technical equipment in the children’s hospital oncology (cancer) section. This upgrade is expected to save the lives of over 3,000 children over the next twenty-five years.