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This was a strange watch... Can't figure out if the guy is just a straight numbers, on-the-spectrum science guy or a black hearted neo-liberal posing as one...
Let enough people die so we can get up to herd immunity? Barbaric, out of touch, inhuman...
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Barbaric, out of touch, inhuman
But that's exactly what he's not. He's very carefully pointing out that if the costs of lockdown (deaths from lockdown-related issues) are greater than those lost directly from Covid-19 then our actions have killed people. As he says, epidemiologists don't suffer if they predict 100x or 1000x more deaths than occur, but do suffer if they underestimate by a factor of 3. It's therefore in their nature only to publish generous estimates of mortality.
It's like the helmet debate. People argue that cyclists must wear helmets because "if it saves one life" when we know very well that we could save far more lives by encouraging people to cycle rather than scaring them off it by suggesting that it's a form of transport that requires armour.
Incidentally, I'm not saying I agree with him, but when you're dealing with deaths across populations of hundreds of millions you need to be brave enough to consider the unintended consequences of what seems like the right thing to do right now.
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Can't figure out if the guy is just a straight numbers, on-the-spectrum science guy or a black hearted neo-liberal posing as one...
Surely the message, and its merits or lack of them, is more important than the messenger?
user62119
ffm
Brommers
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