Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 8:34] Rob Wallace — evolutionary epidemiologist, agroecologist, and author of ‘Dead Epidemiologists: On the Origins of COVID-19’ — joins me to discuss the complex interplay between the increase of infectious pathogens globally, the role of epidemiology within the neoliberal capitalist project, agribusiness and ecological destruction, and Empire at the end of the "cycle of accumulation" in late stage capitalism. We reference his large body of work, but in particular two of his most recent Patreon pieces, ‘A Spray of Split Seconds’ and ‘Vic Berger's American Public Health.’ Zootonic pathogen spillover into human populations is on the upward trend. The high-speed evisceration of the last remaining intact biodiverse regions on the planet, in conjunction with agribusiness’s rapacious exploitation of biological life, meets the conditions for highly contagious viruses to evolve and leap from animal to human hosts more successfully and frequently. Regarding this epidemiological reality, Rob Wallace is an ar