Does anyone have any serious thoughts about anti-Ebola preparations one could take? (Please keep ‘it is not a big threat’ responses to a minimum—I’m aware of that, but am interested in the question anyway).
That increases other (personal) risks. However, it answers the original question—though not quite correctly, it does not quite minimize the risk of infection—if you accept increasing other risks as a price for decreasing Ebola-risk, there are (much) more dangerous places to go camping, with (much) less Ebola risk (e.g. abandoned underground salt mine). If you accept increasing other risks beyond any reasonable limits, then the answer (which you might very well get from an optimizing AI) is very simple—shoot yourself. Future risk of Ebola infection—zero :-)
Try to encourage getting it stopped and stamped out at the center of infection, Western Africa, where it is being maintained in the population, expanding and throwing off infected travelers. Money and political pressure are the presumed ways to do this, in the absence of direct medical/epidemiological skills in the efforts against it.
Ordinary disaster-preparedness things—have some emergency canned food and maybe bottled water (get a fire extinguisher while you’re at it—not for ebola, but it’s more likely to save your life). Get in the habit of taking your temperature daily, in a consistent way and at a consistent point in your routine, and plug it into some quantified self thing, then you’ll have an idea of what’s normal and be able to spot a fever sooner. (If your toilet allows, a habit of inspecting your poop can also give you early warning of irregularities). Getting a flu shot will lower your odds of a false alarm. Wash your hands frequently, especially after shaking hands with anyone (or getting their bodily fluids on you, but that’s hopefully common sense); wear gloves in public places if you can get away with it; be sure to keep any open wounds covered, even if they’re small (and obv. don’t have sex, especially with promiscuous people). Work from home if you can, avoid crowds, and especially avoid aeroplanes (bear in mind this is actively bad for your odds of not dying; even during an ebola scare, driving is far far far more dangerous than, well, pretty much anything).
If your toilet allows, a habit of inspecting your poop can also give you early warning of irregularities
This could be a useful habit anyways. Very roughly speaking: gray poop—liver, floaty greasy poop—pancreas, undigested poop—small intestine, black poop—proximal bleeding, bloody poop—distal bleeding, watery poop—lactose intolerance or inflammation, rock solid poop—diet lacking fiber.
Does anyone have any serious thoughts about anti-Ebola preparations one could take? (Please keep ‘it is not a big threat’ responses to a minimum—I’m aware of that, but am interested in the question anyway).
By “anti-Ebola preparations” do you actually mean “minimizing your chance of getting infected”?
Take a tent and go solo camping. Somewhere up North :-)
That increases other (personal) risks. However, it answers the original question—though not quite correctly, it does not quite minimize the risk of infection—if you accept increasing other risks as a price for decreasing Ebola-risk, there are (much) more dangerous places to go camping, with (much) less Ebola risk (e.g. abandoned underground salt mine). If you accept increasing other risks beyond any reasonable limits, then the answer (which you might very well get from an optimizing AI) is very simple—shoot yourself. Future risk of Ebola infection—zero :-)
No, because as garabik noted, I don’t want to commit suicide.
Bonus points for emulating a stupid AI. Not.
Try to encourage getting it stopped and stamped out at the center of infection, Western Africa, where it is being maintained in the population, expanding and throwing off infected travelers. Money and political pressure are the presumed ways to do this, in the absence of direct medical/epidemiological skills in the efforts against it.
Also encouraging your government to stop flights to the affected areas if it hasn’t done so already.
Ordinary disaster-preparedness things—have some emergency canned food and maybe bottled water (get a fire extinguisher while you’re at it—not for ebola, but it’s more likely to save your life). Get in the habit of taking your temperature daily, in a consistent way and at a consistent point in your routine, and plug it into some quantified self thing, then you’ll have an idea of what’s normal and be able to spot a fever sooner. (If your toilet allows, a habit of inspecting your poop can also give you early warning of irregularities). Getting a flu shot will lower your odds of a false alarm. Wash your hands frequently, especially after shaking hands with anyone (or getting their bodily fluids on you, but that’s hopefully common sense); wear gloves in public places if you can get away with it; be sure to keep any open wounds covered, even if they’re small (and obv. don’t have sex, especially with promiscuous people). Work from home if you can, avoid crowds, and especially avoid aeroplanes (bear in mind this is actively bad for your odds of not dying; even during an ebola scare, driving is far far far more dangerous than, well, pretty much anything).
This could be a useful habit anyways. Very roughly speaking: gray poop—liver, floaty greasy poop—pancreas, undigested poop—small intestine, black poop—proximal bleeding, bloody poop—distal bleeding, watery poop—lactose intolerance or inflammation, rock solid poop—diet lacking fiber.
When it comes to personal safety it’s generally a bad idea to optimise your preparation against specific threads.