This pandemic is a good case study for why we need a new model of governance. Consider this hypothetical system: 1. Data is collected 2. Dynamics are modeled

This pandemic is a good case study for why we need a new model of governance. Consider this hypothetical system: 1. Data is collected 2. Dynamics are modeled (population health, hospital capacity, economic output, etc.) 3. Problem constraints are well posed 4. Computational resources are allocated to solve for the constraints In my mind, this would be the rational approach to solving this problem. Steps 1, 2, and 4 should be apolitical. Only step 3 is political since many people would disagree on what should be optimized. Step 3 is what people should debate. Steps 1, 2, 4 should be transparently managed by public+private working groups of experts. Instead, the public and political discourse around lockdown and data collection are proxies for an informal debate around whether population health or economy is more important, which is not a well-posed problem, nor is it an effective way to engineer a solution.