In late January, rationalists on Twitter were already warning about COVID-19 and stocking respirators. So why did America fail so miserably? Was it only Trump's fault?
New York Times, January 31: "At this point, sharply curtailing air travel to and from China is more of an emotional or political reaction..." nytimes.com/2020/01/31/bus…
The Washington Post, January 31: “In disregard of WHO recommendation against travel restrictions, the US went the opposite way,” the ministry’s spokesman said in English-language messages on Twitter on Friday. “Where is its empathy?” washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020…
Vox, January 23: "The evidence on travel bans for diseases like coronavirus is clear: They’re political theater, not good public health policy." vox.com/2020/1/23/2107…
Vox, February 13: "“No handshakes, please”: The tech industry is terrified of the coronavirus. Although public officials in the area say the virus is contained for now, that hasn’t stopped the tech industry from worrying." vox.com/recode/2020/2/…
ABC News, February 1: “We need to use the least restrictive measure necessary to safeguard the population" abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSto…
People who want to be arbiters of truth only changed their anti-lockdown stance after it became politically opportune.
“...people should go out and continue to live life, should go out to restaurants...” -- NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-…
The COVID-19 strategy pursued by the establishment is not so much about being pro-science as being anti-Trump.
This is actually one of the best arguments against censorship. Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" would have never seen the light of day in an environment designed to protect the expert consensus from being challenged.
Translation: Lancet on the subject of masks. This fully confirms the German approach: masks for medical professions, not in public. No clear use of masks in public, therefore priority for masks in the hospital. WHO also recommends that.
"More broadly, I’m really concerned that lashing out at Trump (who, to be clear, is terrible) is serving to sweep under the rug the extent and scope of the failure of the western public health community." slowboring.com/p/the-masks-an…
"They excused Black Lives Matter protestors because of ideological affinity. They were against masks before they were for them. They talked about how border controls don’t work, but later admitted they had just asserted something they wanted to be true..." gnxp.com/WordPress/2020…
"Gregg Gonsalves is a global health activist, an epidemiologist, an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Public Health." en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Gon…
Experts and institutions have been spectacularly and completely wrong.
China announces that the new virus is infectious before symptoms appear, but health officials in other countries are not all convinced; the NYC health commissioner calls the claim "misinformation"
Most perpetrators of antisemitic violence in Europe are Muslims. According to an anti-Semitism report by the European Union, 30% (41% in Germany) of the perpetrators are Muslims, 21% people with a left-wing political view, and 13% right-wingers.
This pattern is verified by yet another study: Antisemitic Violence in Europe, 2005 – 2015 Exposure and Perpetrators in France, UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Russia web.archive.org/web/2019061520…
Ignoring the Russian propaganda about the counteroffensive failing, this is the 4th counteroffensive, 3 of which were successful. If people like Sacks ruled the world, the Roman Empire would have ceased to exist in 212 BC, the remaining Slavs would speak German and Asia Japanese.
These are the losers who don't understand the value of freedom and self-determination and would raise the white flag at the first sign of trouble. It's no surprise that they have lost the culture war.
Of course, Sacks' position is also bonkers from a game theoretic perspective.
Not even present people are like us. These stats from Papua New Guinea remind us that civilization is a thin veneer over barbarism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_vi…
"in the 20th century, people [said] … this was racist propaganda on the part of the Greeks & Romans … & that Carthage should be saved from this terrible slander. 'What we are saying now is that the … evidence for child sacrifice is overwhelming" ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-2…
"A vast scale of brutal human sacrifice among the Aztecs, excising beating hearts from victims, increasingly coming to light. The conquistador accounts may have been right after all."
Most people have no idea how extensive human biodiversity is and only tend to notice obvious features such as those shown in the photos:
1. Epicanthic fold. 2. Occipital bun. 3. Blonde hair among Melanesians. They share 4%–7% of their genome with the Denisovans. 4. Khoisan peppercorn hair.
But the differences are more than skin-deep.
For example, did you know that East Asians are genetically predisposed to the allele associated with dry-type earwax and a reduction in body odor?
Your frequent reminder that the world could have defeated climate change in the 1980s if all industrialized nations had followed France's lead.
This would have been vastly cheaper than what nations are now pledging to spend in order to combat climate change. Most importantly, it would have been a solution compatible with further growth. But environmentalists sabotaged this technological solution.
And the same people who now claim that we face an extinction event and that we need to dismantle capitalism are still against nuclear.
There is no future for Russia. All outcomes are leading towards doom:
1. Russia occupies Ukraine and faces decades of armed insurgency orders of magnitude worse than what the United States faced in Iraq or Afghanistan. Russia will likely lose most of its oil and gas revenues through targeted attacks on its infrastructure. Inevitable bankruptcy.
2. The Russian "special military operation" fails and Russia is humiliated. Russia's arms exports and sphere of influence collapse. 3. Russia becomes a Chinese vassal state.