Live data from Hacker News

Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

virologydownunder.com

201–210 of 394 posts

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#201
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, that depends on the med. Your monthly allergy prescription? Sure! Your oxy Rx? No way. My spouse and I are on some meds (not oxy) that they absolutely would not refill for 3 months at a time. My other meds do come in 3 month prescriptions from a mail order pharmacy.

Yep, I'm on a medication that is commonly abused so they only allow 30 day prescriptions, and you can't pay with cash, it has to go through insurance.

Whats to stop you stockpiling them at home for a year, and then taking them all at once and getting hooked?

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#202
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like there must be some sort of internet law that says, “gross incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”

Pretty sure you are kidding, but for the benefit of future readers: > Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

It really needs an "... or corruption" appended to the end. ;)

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#203
The WHO knows this and the pandamic button is also a early signal, they don’t press it when is “too late”. They have protocol and procedures after they declare it, and doing it too early will probably mess it up and cause confusion. This guy is living in his own world.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#205

Before you propagate this information and take action, read this post about the psychology of fear mongering, and ask yourself if you identify with it. 1. Do you tend to mistrust authority? 2. Do you feel powerless to control the course of your life? 3. Do you feel like you have special information and insight the rest of us do not? 4. Do you feel comfort when thinking about the end of the world because once it happe…

There's a lot of randomness in life

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#206

Before you propagate this information and take action, read this post about the psychology of fear mongering, and ask yourself if you identify with it. 1. Do you tend to mistrust authority? 2. Do you feel powerless to control the course of your life? 3. Do you feel like you have special information and insight the rest of us do not? 4. Do you feel comfort when thinking about the end of the world because once it happe…

This seems to just be a set of general steps for the dominant culture to downplay dissenters or individuals for whom the system isn't working. It doesn't tell you anything about if the system is actually working or not, or if those individuals are right or wrong. Anyone who disagrees with the system will probably go through similar feelings (maybe not point 4). You could put yourself in the position of someone who gr…

Astute observation. 1 and 2 apply to marginalized communities but 3 and 4 do not.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#208
post #97

This might sound tasteless but... What's the probable impact of such pandemy on the stock market? Any low hanging fruit to invest on? Any category of assets to stay away from?

Travel stocks and travel related stocks down, health related stocks up would be my first guess.

Not health insurance though, they could be in for massive liabilities should a lot of people start contracting.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#209
post #72

There is a lot of panicky misinformation out there, the WHO is calling it an "infodemic"! This Wikipedia article is doing a respectable job tracking some of the conspiracy theories and falsehoods: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misinformation_related_to_the_... Wikipedia also has a good summary of the overall state of things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_ou...

[deleted]

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#210
post #187
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two observations: 1. There isn't a single media (often, when your tribe is against another, you view the opposition as monolithic rather than a spectrum composed of different viewpoints) 2. And they're not insane, editors and social media algorithms are rational and reacting to reader incentives (but it is "insane" to mistake media sources for a rational human, because most media is about covering extreme events[1])…

Would you argue the US has a diverse media? Today, the concept seems laughable.

It depends on what "diverse" means to you. I would say that Scientific American isn't the same as a partisan news channel.

But to the degree that an ad driven model and social media is the primary way news distribution happens, media incentives are monolithic for media organizations.

On a discursive note, if you are interested in media incentives, "All the News That's Fit to Sell" is a great book that goes into media incentives in previous eras. When the economies of scale for printing presses went up, media naturally became more centrist and less alarmist because a single paper had to appeal to a larger audience. It gives you a sense for the power of incentives in dictating what media is created/distributed.

Post reply on HN