{ "blyg": "0.3", "id": "31ydp8y7wmg7qb166n85xs16xm", "kind": "fragment", "origin": "https://www.msweet.net/notes/", "page": "926-amber-shrews", "author": { "name": "Matthew McDowell-Sweet", "url": "https://www.msweet.net/" }, "created": "2026-09-11T20:29:29Z", "updated": "2026-09-11T20:29:29Z", "version": 1, "content_md": "Hoping that such empirical studies prove to be worthwhile.\n\n> An analogy may be found in global health with vaccine efficacy. Vaccine trials demonstrate the ability to preserve individual health in the face of a pathogen. But to assess whether a given serum can prevent an epidemic, you need the bridging concept of herd immunity. In peacebuilding, we are still figuring out if the serum works; we haven’t yet gotten around to thinking about what population-level “immunity” might look like, let alone funding the kind of large-scale interventional trials required to actually observe it in the field.\n\n[Engineering Peace—Asterisk ↗](https://asteriskmag.com/issues/14/engineering-peace)", "content_html": "

Hoping that such empirical studies prove to be worthwhile.

\n

An analogy may be found in global health with vaccine efficacy. Vaccine trials demonstrate the ability to preserve individual health in the face of a pathogen. But to assess whether a given serum can prevent an epidemic, you need the bridging concept of herd immunity. In peacebuilding, we are still figuring out if the serum works; we haven’t yet gotten around to thinking about what population-level “immunity” might look like, let alone funding the kind of large-scale interventional trials required to actually observe it in the field.

\n

Engineering Peace—Asterisk ↗

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