11–20 of 79 posts
If this current situation has taught me anything it is that the internet is a mush of armchair garbage and it’s overwhelming to decipher- yes even what I’m typing now. The whole thing has me desperate to ignore everyone and read a book. What a joke; to think we are all somehow experts.
Unclear if you read the article and are voicing disagreement with it, but Scott Aaronson is in fact defending armchair epidemiology.
A. Politicians have interests representing themselves as well as their country, and thus have given dishonest advice (masks don't help) with an ulterior motive (save them for hospital), downplayed the problem, and covered up the number of cases.
B. I think a lot of actually qualified experts (doctors, scientists) to think the public can't handle the truth perhaps? I still have yet to see anybody in any position of respect or authority simply say the bald truth: "A few million Americans will die, at least, unless some radical cure happens. Social distancing is a drop in the bucket, ventilators make a tiny difference. The vast majority of young people will be totally fine"
I'm disappointed in our society for failing to bubble up and synthesize good information quickly.
If this current situation has taught me anything it is that the internet is a mush of armchair garbage and it’s overwhelming to decipher- yes even what I’m typing now. The whole thing has me desperate to ignore everyone and read a book. What a joke; to think we are all somehow experts.
Let's talk first about the domain experts, professors in prestigious universities, that were reassuring the public that COVID-19 is no way more fatal than the seasonal flu [1]. The same moment that the ICUs in Italy and Spain were already overwhelmed and the physicians could not find the necessary protective equipment to keep saving lives. Are there gonna be any legal repercussions to these? [1] https://www.wsj.com/a…
https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-i...
This is a topic that seems to be in a perverse conflict of interests. A. Politicians have interests representing themselves as well as their country, and thus have given dishonest advice (masks don't help) with an ulterior motive (save them for hospital), downplayed the problem, and covered up the number of cases. B. I think a lot of actually qualified experts (doctors, scientists) to think the public can't handle th…
Sorry, but look at how China, South Korea, Taiwan etc. are doing right now - this doesn't jive at all with "social distancing is a drop in the bucket". Even Western countries/places which started social distancing early in their local outbreaks look like they'll be a lot better off than places which didn't.
> The vast majority of young people will be totally fine
This is also quite wrong, unfortunately. A sizeable minority of young people will need hospital treatment for COVID, and perhaps intensive care. Given overwhelmed healthcare systems, they won't be "totally fine" at all. Of course, older folks are at increased risk.
This is the opposite sentiment to "there are no libertarians in pandemics." Keen perception of reality is unlikely to be concentrated at the top of political hierarchies. Competent Authority isn't an oxymoron but it's distressingly unreliable.
I’m sure someone will be along momentarily to tell us that it’s no worse than seasonal flu.
this is borderline terrorism, imo. right from the into, "Dr. A..." which to a layman would reasonably interpet as meaning "M.D" rather than professor of computer science. the one thing i have noticed in all this is the utterly astonishing abandonment of science, reason, and rationality. that scares me much more than disease.
we are being forced to adapt and to develop new ways to relate to information, to asses it's trustworthiness, etc...
it's an epistemic phenomenon. perhaps another facet of this phenomenon are the filtered information bubbles.
But this pandemic really puts the pressure on us to face the reality of our current information society.
Who should we believe, then, the WHO? They told us China had it under control, and not to wear masks