Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

[stvdv]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

In 1981, author Dean Koontz published a novel about a “biological weapon” called “Wuhan-400” that was designed to kill people but accidently gave a child psychic abilities.

Koontz wrote that Wuhan-400 was developed in labs outside Wuhan, China and was the “perfect weapon” – it only affected people and couldn’t survive outside a living human body for more than a minute.

Decades later, an extract from his novel is doing the rounds online, with suggestions that Koontz predicted the 2019 coronavirus.

 

[exchemist]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

First thing is this sounds like another fake internet rumour.

What's the title of the book? I'd like to check it exists, first, by looking up the ISBN.

 

[Terry Sampson]

Sorry to break this to you: it's fake news.
My brother sent the same stuff to me.

Those are two pages from different books. Koontz' book is on the right. Interesting coincidence but far from what is implied in the original claim.

PolitiFact - The book ‘End of Days’ described an illness in 2020, but not 'Wuhan-400'

 

[columbus]

There have been lots of predictions made that actually came true.

Over a hundred years ago, an Amish farmer was quoted as saying "Why would I replace my horses with a gasoline powered tractor? My horses fertilize my fields. A tractor just makes smoke."

Arthur C Clarke wrote a story in the 60s about global communications. Then, the plot device was geosynchronous satellites beaming television. The anti-hero was a guy who beamed pornography into every home, complete with subliminal messages, bent on world domination. Little did Clarke realise that the internet was coming. Now such a criminal wouldn't even need TVs and porno. Facebook will work better.
Tom

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

The only things the fictional virus has in common with coronavirus is originating in Wuhan and being a virus. We know coronavirus can live on surfaces more than a minute and it certainly doesn't give children psychic abilities. So even if this fictional book actually exists (which is questionable in itself), it would be quite a stretch to call this an accurate prediction.

 

[shunyadragon]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

Simply and absolutely no. Science and reality has no place for conspiracy theories. This nonsense is not only ridiculous, but could be dangerous interfering with the actual science and dealing with pandemics.

You do not predict natural pandemics.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I fear a conspiracy between Disney, Koontz, the pharmaceutical industry and Satan. Perhaps @Deeje can get us all up to speed on this.

 

[exchemist]

Sorry to break this to you: it's fake news.
My brother sent the same stuff to me.

View attachment 38133

Those are two pages from different books. Koontz' book is on the right. Interesting coincidence but far from what is implied in the original claim.

PolitiFact - The book ‘End of Days’ described an illness in 2020, but not 'Wuhan-400'

I note the Wuhan Institute of Virology came into existence under its current name in 1978 - though there was a lab there doing similar work before that. So not too strange for Koontz to choose it for a sci-fi novel in 1981.

 

[stvdv]

The only things the fictional virus has in common with coronavirus is originating in Wuhan and being a virus. We know coronavirus can live on surfaces more than a minute and it certainly doesn't give children psychic abilities. So even if this fictional book actually exists (which is questionable in itself), it would be quite a stretch to call this an accurate prediction.

I saw your line also, when using google, and they called it proof. I would not call it proof. Maybe the man was a visionair. But even when you are a visionair, you don't get all data correctly, and you have to interpret it. Easily to misinterpret. But to me the main thing was right, a virus, called corona Wuhan-400 (*) and Wuhan. Other things were small details.

Still it can be a hoax, but IMO not because of this reason.

(*) Edit: Thanks @exchemist: Wuhan-400 it was, not Corona

 

[exchemist]

I saw your line also, when using google, and they called it proof. I would not call it proof. Maybe the man was a visionair. But even when you are a visionair, you don't get all data correctly, and you have to interpret it. Easily to misinterpret. But to me the main thing was right, a virus, called corona and Wuhan. Other things were small details.

Still it can be a hoax, but IMO not because of this reason.

Eh? Where do you get "corona" from? That wasn't in the novel, surely? You said it was called Wuhan-400 originally.

 

[74x12]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

This book is real. I just found it on google books and searched wuhan and the passage came up. Here is the link. The Eyes of Darkness


The official narrative of the Wuhan virus seems so dumb to me. A snake ate a bat and a human ate a snake?
Okay ...

Disclaimer. The purpose of this post is not to scare anyone. Corona virus is clearly not as deadly as the virus described in the book. So, let's keep that in perspective.

 

[stvdv]

I note the Wuhan Institute of Virology came into existence under its current name in 1978 - though there was a lab there doing similar work before that. So not too strange for Koontz to choose it for a sci-fi novel in 1981.

Thank you, that makes sense.

 

[stvdv]

Eh? Where do you get "corona" from? That wasn't in the novel, surely? You said it was called Wuhan-400 originally.

Thank you, my mistake. Wuhan-400 is the name.

 

[exchemist]

This book is real. I just found it on google books and searched wuhan and the passage came up. Here is the link. The Eyes of Darkness

Not to focus on what the book gets wrong about the Wuhan virus; but rather on what it gets right. That is actually beyond incredible if you think it's just a coincidence!

• The year is right. 2020
• How it attacks the lungs is right.
• The starting location is right. Wuhan

The official narrative of the Wuhan virus seems so dumb to me. A snake ate a bat and a human ate a snake?
Okay ...

First of all. Disclaimer. The purpose of this post is not to scare anyone. Corona virus is clearly not as deadly as the virus described in the book. So, let's keep that in perspective.

Except that how it attacks the lungs has been cut and pasted from a different book, according to @Terry Sampson

So all there is in Koontz's book is a virus from a virology lab in Wuhan which was already well-known at the time the book was written.

 

[shunyadragon]

I saw your line also, when using google, and they called it proof. I would not call it proof. Maybe the man was a visionair. But even when you are a visionair, you don't get all data correctly, and you have to interpret it. Easily to misinterpret. But to me the main thing was right, a virus, called corona and Wuhan. Other things were small details.

Still it can be a hoax, but IMO not because of this reason.

A billion monkeys with typewriters can eventually type the Bible.

The Course in Miracles is a better reference to phony coincidences.

 

[exchemist]

Thank you, my mistake. Wuhan-400 is the name.

OK, but adding invented bits incrementally to a story is often how these myths grow.

 

[74x12]

Except that how it attacks the lungs has been cut and pasted from a different book, according to @Terry Sampson

So all there is in Kootz's book is a virus from a virology lab in Wuhan which was already well-known at the time the book was written.

hmmm .... I see. Thanks. Interesting.

 

[stvdv]

OK, but adding invented bits incrementally to a story is often how these myths grow.

That's why I thanked you, and edited my post.

 

[exchemist]

That's why I thanked you, and edited my post.

Cool .

 

[McBell]

Was Corona predicted 40 years ago?

Did the author Dean Koontz predict Corona, or just some creepy coincidence?

Also coincidental: China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs

No.
With "Corona" being the name of a family of virii...
You do know that SARS is also a corona virus?
As is MERS.
In fact, they were originally called corona virus before the strain specific name was declared.

So someone saying that there will be a corona virus pandemic sometime in the future is not really a prediction so much as it is a reality.

Then add the fact that with MERS and SARS both being called Corona virus before they were given the names MERS and SARS, a lot of the "predictions" were not in fact predictions so much as talking about current or recently passed events.
I.E. the Simpsons.