The Coronavirus joins the long list of events no one predicted. Pearl Harbor, the collapse of the USSR, 9/11, 2008, the populist revolt etc. Yet we ruthlessly shrank the design margin confident in the certain future. The greatest of the 7 deadly sins is pride.
There's no easy institutional way to learn humility. Civilizational success creates blind spots. The longer the winning run the bigger the blind arc grows.
"For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments...
"The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. ...
"A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."
