3 ms·

We could all stop driving tomorrow and save millions of lives over an extended time. We could ban alcohol and save more. Banning sex could surely prevent the

We could all stop driving tomorrow and save millions of lives over an extended time. We could ban alcohol and save more. Banning sex could surely prevent the spread of HIV which has killed tens of millions. My point is that we are always balancing risk of injury and fatality with costs, and this should be no different. HN, I suspect, may start to feel differently when they start getting laid off. Google and Facebook ads will decline; Apple stores are closed; venture rounds will dry up. You’re not immune.

Kiro 7y ago
800 people died in Italy just yesterday. Stop downplaying.
- ddxxdd 7y ago
  I'm not the OP, but the world just lost hundreds of trillions of dollars of wealth over the past month. When people start going hungry because of a lack of income, then we can really start comparing the harm of containment to the harm of the pandemic itself.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    I'm not the OP, but the world just lost hundreds of trillions of dollars of wealth over the past month Folks wealthy enough to own equity lost wealth, that's a pretty small minority though. That it's a eye popping amount of money just goes to show how unequally wealth is distributed. When people start going hungry because of a lack of income, then we can really start comparing the harm of containment to the harm of the pandemic itself. Dead people don't eat. People too sick to work in America won't have any income. With enough incapacitated and dead you'll still have your economic harm, only this time with a lot more dead bodies. If your customers are incapacitated / sick, dead, or too destitute (as a result of expensive medical care) they're not going to provide you any income either. Folks in the UK/EU will have some safety net, what happens if/when this explodes in India? Iran has a rather large middle class (especially considering the region). With the mass graves that they're building, how much economic productivity do you think's been sucked out of Iran? Do you think the CCP quarantined 100 million people on a whim without a care in the world for their economy? In the immediate term there's also a price war going on between Russia and Saudi Arabia. That is a much bigger deal right now. Longer term we've already got a number of high profile politicians (and immediate family) with the virus (e.g. wives of the Spanish and Canadian PMs, various American congress critters, UK MPs, etc., etc.). What's a power vacuum going to do to the economy? My guess is: nothing good.
    - op03 7y ago
      Nothing good is not something new to humanity. Ask the German and Japanese survivors of WW2. India has gone through its own share of unimaginable trauma such as Partition. Travel around the Balkans today or Russia and talk to people about their memories of War and Collapse. Its hard to imagine how society recovers from such events, while in the midst of one. But we do.
- dang 7y ago
  No one knows what's happening right now, so it's natural and inevitable that are different views. As long as people express their views thoughtfully and respectfully, that's within the site guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dang 7y ago
I understand it's frustrating to be representing a minority view, but please stick to not being inflammatory. That's critical, given the levels of stress, fear, and anger right now. And you've mostly been doing a good job of it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- nostromo 7y ago
  Thank you, I'll do better.

Kiro 7y ago

800 people died in Italy just yesterday. Stop downplaying.

ddxxdd 7y ago
I'm not the OP, but the world just lost hundreds of trillions of dollars of wealth over the past month. When people start going hungry because of a lack of income, then we can really start comparing the harm of containment to the harm of the pandemic itself.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  I'm not the OP, but the world just lost hundreds of trillions of dollars of wealth over the past month Folks wealthy enough to own equity lost wealth, that's a pretty small minority though. That it's a eye popping amount of money just goes to show how unequally wealth is distributed. When people start going hungry because of a lack of income, then we can really start comparing the harm of containment to the harm of the pandemic itself. Dead people don't eat. People too sick to work in America won't have any income. With enough incapacitated and dead you'll still have your economic harm, only this time with a lot more dead bodies. If your customers are incapacitated / sick, dead, or too destitute (as a result of expensive medical care) they're not going to provide you any income either. Folks in the UK/EU will have some safety net, what happens if/when this explodes in India? Iran has a rather large middle class (especially considering the region). With the mass graves that they're building, how much economic productivity do you think's been sucked out of Iran? Do you think the CCP quarantined 100 million people on a whim without a care in the world for their economy? In the immediate term there's also a price war going on between Russia and Saudi Arabia. That is a much bigger deal right now. Longer term we've already got a number of high profile politicians (and immediate family) with the virus (e.g. wives of the Spanish and Canadian PMs, various American congress critters, UK MPs, etc., etc.). What's a power vacuum going to do to the economy? My guess is: nothing good.
  - op03 7y ago
    Nothing good is not something new to humanity. Ask the German and Japanese survivors of WW2. India has gone through its own share of unimaginable trauma such as Partition. Travel around the Balkans today or Russia and talk to people about their memories of War and Collapse. Its hard to imagine how society recovers from such events, while in the midst of one. But we do.
dang 7y ago
No one knows what's happening right now, so it's natural and inevitable that are different views. As long as people express their views thoughtfully and respectfully, that's within the site guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang 7y ago

I understand it's frustrating to be representing a minority view, but please stick to not being inflammatory. That's critical, given the levels of stress, fear, and anger right now. And you've mostly been doing a good job of it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

nostromo 7y ago
Thank you, I'll do better.