Chapter 970 Human Pox

Joan couldn't agree with Mr. Pinkerton's suspicion of Professor Moriarty, which doesn't make sense from the motive of committing the crime.

What good would rescuing Harry Kaufman do to Professor Moriarty?

If there is no benefit, why would he do such an illegal thing?

When Harry Kaufman was trapped, Mr. Professor provided the police with indispensable help. Thanks to his "true seeing", everyone can see that Harry is indeed of doppelganger blood.

If he really rescued Harry from prison, why did he help the police put Harry in prison?

Starting from common sense, Joann has every reason to think that Ted Pinkerton has a prejudice against Professor Moriarty, and brings this prejudice into the case, making irrational judgments, and taking a completely innocent person , mistaken for a suspect.

However, for some reason, Qiao An was still a little uneasy.

He could cite a hundred reasons to prove that his mentor had no motive for committing the crime, but he couldn't completely dispel the inexplicable doubt in his heart after all.

Joan was in a daze for a long time, but his chaotic mood still couldn't be calmed down. He simply suspended his work and went to the tutor's laboratory first to see what he was busy with and whether there were any signs of abnormality.

...

Joan walked into the tutor's laboratory and found that Professor Moriarty was sorting out the experiment log at his desk, and there was nothing unusual in his demeanor.

"Joan, are you free today?"

"It's my rest time now, come and visit me and see what you're up to."

Joan pulled a chair and sat down next to the instructor. He found the laboratory unusually deserted, and he couldn't help feeling a little puzzled.

"Mentor, didn't you do the experiment today?"

Professor Moriarty looked up at his student, his gray-blue eyes looked a little gloomy.

"The second phase of the experiment has been completed, and all the living subjects have also been disposed of."

The word "handling" made Joan feel a little uncomfortable. Scratching his head, he took the initiative to change the subject.

"What's the result of the experiment?"

"Not bad." A smile appeared in Professor Moriarty's eyes.

"Judging from the statistical data of the two experiments before and after, the experimental subjects inoculated with the vaccine generally obtained immunity against the smallpox virus, and the effect was better than I expected."

"Congratulations, you have made a major breakthrough!"

Joan is really proud of the excellent work of the tutor.

Professor Moriarty shook his head with a gloomy expression on his face.

"Don't get too excited, there is another set of experimental data that is not very good-looking. All the experimental subjects who were vaccinated had an accidental death rate as high as 2%."

"What is the specific cause of death?" Joan asked in surprise.

"Die from smallpox."

Professor Moriarty revealed a cold reality with calm words.

"The vaccinia inoculated by the experimental subjects is actually a virus sample collected from smallpox patients, which can be referred to as 'human pox' for short."

"There is a fatal flaw in human pox. No matter how the virus is attenuated, accidents will still occur. According to the experimental results, the probability of accidental death is about 2%."

Qiao An listened silently to the tutor's narration, and there was a wave of waves in her heart.

The "accidental risk" mentioned by Professor Moriarty, translated into vernacular, means that a healthy person who was inoculated with smallpox to prevent smallpox ended up being infected with smallpox and died.

No one wants to die without knowing why, but before the vaccination, no one has any way of knowing which people this 2% random bad luck will happen to.

This is not intentional murder, not even manslaughter. People who accidentally contracted smallpox due to vaccination with smallpox, who else can blame them besides lamenting their own doom?

In all fairness, the vaccine invented by Professor Moriarty is certainly not perfect, but in areas where the smallpox epidemic broke out, compared with the 15% mortality rate of local residents, the mere 2% accidental risk is far from enough to deter people from getting vaccinated .

This is like a gamble. Choosing to be vaccinated against smallpox is like choosing to bet on the side with a greater chance of winning. It is completely rational, and there is nothing you can do if you lose the bet.

If one million people are vaccinated against smallpox, according to Professor Moriarty's statistics, about 20,000 people will die from uncontrollable medical risks, and some of them may not be infected with smallpox in their entire lives, that's all Dead in vain.

However, if the 1 million high-risk people were not vaccinated, about 150,000 people would die from smallpox infection.

150,000 is far greater than 20,000. From the perspective of probability and statistics alone, vaccination against smallpox is obviously worthwhile.

However, in a flash, Joan realized that he was using the perspective of an outsider to measure human life as a data that could be added and subtracted.

If the same thing happened to me, if I was unfortunately a member of that 2% group, would I still be able to see it that way?

What makes Joan even more disturbed is that even if this statistic is put in front of him, in his heart he does not really feel sad for those 20,000 accidental deaths. In contrast, he is more relieved that there are still 130,000 People, who should have died of smallpox, are now saved by vaccination.

However, is "human life" just a quantitative unit that can be compared and calculated for addition and subtraction?

Is the value of 20,000 human lives necessarily less than 130,000 human lives?

A person's death is a tragedy.

The death of tens of thousands of people is just a series of cold numbers.

Joan was deeply saddened that he could not feel the sorrow he deserved.

...

P.S: Some reference data about inoculation of "human pox"

During the Boston smallpox epidemic in 1723, the mortality rate of those who were not vaccinated was 15% from smallpox and 2% from vaccinated people.

From 1721 to 1732 in the United Kingdom, the accidental death rate of those who were vaccinated against smallpox was about 2%.

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