Thread by @DaveKeto

1/ A personal note...

I've been happy to help my family, friends, and hopefully many others with being an unexpected, non-expert resource on #covid19. Like many of you, I'd prefer this were not an urgency and I could be doing what I was before.

2/ In times of crisis, it's always nice to have voices of thoughtful examination for a situation and the data observed.

When I was a kid watching Star Trek, I always enjoyed Spock for this very reason. He seemed to always be cool under fire, even when facing terrible news.

3/ It's those characters from shows and movies that were often "the engineer" or "the scientist" that I revered. Not just because of their portrayal of being brilliant, but their levelheaded calm and determination when everyone else is losing their cool. I admired their behavior.

4/ In fact, one of the most influential scenes in any movie for me was from Titanic, which I saw at a point in my life were I was deciding on serious career commitments.

As it happens, that scene is on YouTube and can be found here:

5/ The Chief Engineer (Joseph Bell) details what he feels certain is to come.

I then looked up the historical accounts and was quite impressed that this was mostly accurate. Indeed, that very stark speech wasn't far off from what really happened by accounts of those who survived

6/ But the story deepens... there were a number of engineers who headed to and remained at their posts down below with certainty of their doom, yet determined to buy as much time as possible to save lives up above, including Joseph Bell himself. stfaithsgreatcrosby.org.uk/furnishtitanic…

7/ Thomas Andrews designed the ship and "was last seen urging people to get into the lifeboats." and "He made no attempt to get into a lifeboat, or even to leave the sinking ship." The entire team of engineers -- over 30 of them -- all died.

bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

8/ The toughest part of this story is that the Titanic was designed to have many fold more lifeboats than it had. The ship was launched with much less, in part, due to aesthetics ("they obstruct the view") and hubris with most everyone assuming the ship was unsinkable anyway.

9/ "During the design stage, Alexander Carlisle, [chief draughtsman], submitted a plan to provide 64 lifeboats. [It was then dropped further to 32, and again to 16]. Carlisle is believed to have left his position in dispute of this decision." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeboats…

10/ IIRC, this was also an argument the Chief Engineer had with White Star Line (cruise line) leadership in the months before the maiden voyage.

In other words, many smart people were concerned this was a real possibility and fought to prepare for it... but failed.

11/ Yet, that's what makes this such an incredible story.

Yes, it's a terrible tragedy of lives lost that was much more preventable.

But it's also a story of how 1/3rd of the passengers were saved from some very sharp minds who aligned quickly to meet the challenge.

12/ Indeed, much of the problem was simply convincing most of the passengers on the ship that it was truly doomed given it didn't seem to be sinking quickly (until the end). Many assumed everything was okay.

In other words, compelling appropriate concern was its own problem.

13/ There's plenty of blame to spread around on why those lifeboats didn't have the numbers to save more.

But surely you can appreciate that the very people who designed it all were the same ones who objected each step of the way toward the outcome before it was inevitable.

14/ As odd as it may sound, this historical account inspired my giving a more focused effort toward becoming a serious software engineer.

But perhaps more importantly, I continued striving toward that ideal in behavior.

Acting more than reacting. Reasoning over emoting.

15/ So while #Covid19 is not the Titanic, I'm sure you can appreciate there are many parallels when it comes to managing resources, gathering data, and choosing our next steps.

I have plenty of opinions on these topics, but that's not where I was going with this personal note..

16/ I just wanted to share that it's been especially tough these last four weeks. I've gotten to know so many doctors and healthcare professionals in the last few years, and I've never seen them as I do today. There's a lot of fear, uncertainty, and sleeplessness...

17/ And while no one in my immediate family has been affected by the virus (that I'm aware of), there are now several friends (and friends of friends) who have had it to various degrees, some that have truly suffered.

18/ So if I'm being real with everyone, I can't say I don't have my moments these days where I feel very human and worried for the many I know who are in danger.

Plotting mortality on a spreadsheet is much harder when you know how rapid it has been in this pandemic.

19/ Again -- as always -- I'm an optimist, and I truly do believe we'll get through this. But I also know the cost will be so much higher than we can truly understand until we're on the other side of it.

And... well... that's an emotionally taxing thought to me I suppose.

20/ I'll leave you with my favorite engineering quote:

“The engineer’s first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is.”
- Unknown