by Peter Zeihan on November 9, 2022

For my fellow backpackers, you know what day 4 of a trip means…fresh socks! So a discussion of chemical and biological warfare seems fitting.

As the superpowers discovered during the Cold War, chemical warfare is hard, expensive and only makes sense in a few scenarios (my socks being one of them). Biological warfare isn’t much different, except it’s harder, more expensive and makes sense in even fewer scenarios (my socks still topping that list).

Despite all the conversation and concern, there’s not much to worry about. Delivering these chemicals or bugs isn’t going to happen at scale and unless you’re on a very specific hit-list…you can probably direct your worries towards something else.

NB: The following video is one I recorded while on my annual backpacking trip; please excuse any potential anachronisms.