On: A Woman Who Lives 200k Years in the Past

[samatman]

This is trivially true, insofar as Europeans traveled to the Americas and brought diseases, notably smallpox, with them.

It isn't meaningfully true, however. Smallpox tore through all of North America well before settlers were west of the Appalachians.

[natmaka → samatman]

It's about the extent. Smallpox was devastating only when people traveled quickly far away. Our current COVID-19 pandemics is only possible to such an extent for the very same reasons.