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>Disaster number one: You can practically smell the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 massing microscopically. This was back in late July, just after the US Centers f

>Disaster number one: You can practically smell the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 massing microscopically. This was back in late July, just after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said that everyone, vaccinated or no, should go back to wearing masks inside. Why was all of this nonsense even necessary? As if the article writer just had to wedge in a completely forced narrative about COIVD apocalypse terror for the hell of it. Such worries among a large crowd of mostly young people such paranoia despite nearly complete vaccination? What was the goddam point of such heavy handed vaccine mandates in the first place if even after these vaccines that presumably work well to dramatically reduce the risk of serious illness, people should still scurry back behind all the health measures? At this point it's like going into panic mode over people possibly transmitting the ordinary annual flu to each other if the vaccines reduce the chances of death as much as is clinically claimed.

kybernetyk 5y ago
Apocalypse terror sells
- zpeti 5y ago
  This. And also the west seems completely obsessed with safety, it trumps any other value now. But safety has a massive price, but that doesn’t matter any more. I’m also guessing a large part of how politicians can make themselves seem useful is making people safe. There’s not much else for them to do any more everyone is so well off.
  - Fnoord 5y ago
    Look at how authoritarian the lockdowns in Australia, China, and various other Asian countries were. It worked, unlike the weak lockdowns in Europe. Look at how authoritarian governments are, like Russia, Turkey, any country in Middle East, Belarus, Myanmar. Safety (for the ruling tribe) sells, as does security theater (post 9/11), but its not unique to West. Nor is it useless (if it were, it would simply not exist).
    - phtrivier 5y ago
      Is it interesting to note that some authoritarian governements (I have Russia in mind) have been less able (willing ?) to contain the epidemic using "harsh measure" than more "liberal" countries ?
      - Fnoord 5y ago
        I would say that's a curious contrast, yeah. Also, there's a very low vaccination willingness in Russia.
    - ssl232 5y ago
      What makes you think Australia's lockdown worked, yet? They've not as far as I'm aware opened up and demonstrated they're free of SARS-CoV-2. And since the current vaccines aren't reducing spread of the virus (enough), what do you think is their end goal? Keep the country locked up from the outside world forever?
smt88 5y ago
> Why was all of this nonsense even necessary? As if the article writer just had to wedge in a completely forced narrative about COIVD apocalypse terror for the hell of it. It's very obvious the writer is just acknowledging the odd circumstances of the meeting with Stephenson. This isn't Reuters -- the writer is setting the scene for the reader and adding personal perspective. He doesn't dwell on the topic. Your response about Covid is ironically exactly what you're accusing the author of, an off-topic narrative wedged into a discussion about something else.
colechristensen 5y ago
People don’t understand risks or logarithms. The risk of a given consequence can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on characteristics but people want the same response. The risk can vary by time by orders of magnitude but people want the same restrictions. Ultimately people can’t accept nonzero risk and conversely think that it is possible to eliminate all risk of something (at the same time happily accepting risks thousands of times higher)
- agumonkey 5y ago
  What's obvious now is how an uninformed mass can be impossible to operate. People really couldn't grasp, and diluted themselves into endless guru talks. Society should focus on invisible training (skills and communication)
andyjohnson0 5y ago
Its just a device. One of the things that journalists (and particularly those who practice what used to be known as "magazine journalism") are taught is to "hang" their article on some current event or situation. The intention is to give the reader a feeling of topicality that links the content (a book launch in this case) to their present situation. (Also your comments about vaccination and "panic" are bs.)
- helloworld11 5y ago
  I can think of no better word to describe the notion of otherwise healthy, not extremely elderly people being asked to go back to masks even inside DESPITE being vaccinated because of a new variant of the virus emerging despite it's having been shown to not be notably worse in terms of symptoms. Such things beg the obvious question: If the vaccines work, then why be asked to wear a mask again if nearly everyone's vaccinated? Or why mandate them even in preference to previous, recent infection if they work so weakly that the masks are requested again?
  - andyjohnson0 5y ago
    > If the vaccines work, then why be asked to wear a mask again if nearly everyone's vaccinated? Very few nations (including the US) have vaccination rates that are high enough to generate herd immunity. Vaccines do prevent a vaccinated person from becoming seriously ill if they become infected. Vaccines don't do much to prevent a vaccinated person from becoming infected and, once infected, infecting others. Masks do help to prevent an infected wearer from infecting others. Surgical masks have low effectiveness at preventing the wearer from becoming infected. That's why its important that enough people wear masks: we each protect each-other. Individualistic societies seem to be having a particular problem with these concepts.
    - CRConrad 5y ago
      > Individualistic societies seem to be having a particular problem with these concepts. Above all, the more individualistic individuals even within those societies. To spell it out: Even in America -- which for all I know you, andyjohnson0, could well be from just like I'm pretty sure helloworld11 is -- there are sensible people like you. But yes, in those societies three are more of the helloworld11-style "Rah, rah, mah freedum!" ones than elsewhere.
krageon 5y ago
> completely forced narrative People are dying or getting sick and it impacts their lives. Nothing forced about that narrative. If it bothers you to read about it, you could probably hold off on reading new things for five years. Perhaps things will have changed then.
justin66 5y ago
> nearly complete vaccination Are you being dishonest or are you really that poorly informed?

kybernetyk 5y ago

Apocalypse terror sells

zpeti 5y ago
This. And also the west seems completely obsessed with safety, it trumps any other value now. But safety has a massive price, but that doesn’t matter any more. I’m also guessing a large part of how politicians can make themselves seem useful is making people safe. There’s not much else for them to do any more everyone is so well off.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  Look at how authoritarian the lockdowns in Australia, China, and various other Asian countries were. It worked, unlike the weak lockdowns in Europe. Look at how authoritarian governments are, like Russia, Turkey, any country in Middle East, Belarus, Myanmar. Safety (for the ruling tribe) sells, as does security theater (post 9/11), but its not unique to West. Nor is it useless (if it were, it would simply not exist).
  - phtrivier 5y ago
    Is it interesting to note that some authoritarian governements (I have Russia in mind) have been less able (willing ?) to contain the epidemic using "harsh measure" than more "liberal" countries ?
    - Fnoord 5y ago
      I would say that's a curious contrast, yeah. Also, there's a very low vaccination willingness in Russia.
  - ssl232 5y ago
    What makes you think Australia's lockdown worked, yet? They've not as far as I'm aware opened up and demonstrated they're free of SARS-CoV-2. And since the current vaccines aren't reducing spread of the virus (enough), what do you think is their end goal? Keep the country locked up from the outside world forever?

smt88 5y ago

> Why was all of this nonsense even necessary? As if the article writer just had to wedge in a completely forced narrative about COIVD apocalypse terror for the hell of it. It's very obvious the writer is just acknowledging the odd circumstances of the meeting with Stephenson. This isn't Reuters -- the writer is setting the scene for the reader and adding personal perspective. He doesn't dwell on the topic. Your response about Covid is ironically exactly what you're accusing the author of, an off-topic narrative wedged into a discussion about something else.

colechristensen 5y ago

People don’t understand risks or logarithms. The risk of a given consequence can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on characteristics but people want the same response. The risk can vary by time by orders of magnitude but people want the same restrictions. Ultimately people can’t accept nonzero risk and conversely think that it is possible to eliminate all risk of something (at the same time happily accepting risks thousands of times higher)

agumonkey 5y ago
What's obvious now is how an uninformed mass can be impossible to operate. People really couldn't grasp, and diluted themselves into endless guru talks. Society should focus on invisible training (skills and communication)

andyjohnson0 5y ago

Its just a device. One of the things that journalists (and particularly those who practice what used to be known as "magazine journalism") are taught is to "hang" their article on some current event or situation. The intention is to give the reader a feeling of topicality that links the content (a book launch in this case) to their present situation. (Also your comments about vaccination and "panic" are bs.)

helloworld11 5y ago
I can think of no better word to describe the notion of otherwise healthy, not extremely elderly people being asked to go back to masks even inside DESPITE being vaccinated because of a new variant of the virus emerging despite it's having been shown to not be notably worse in terms of symptoms. Such things beg the obvious question: If the vaccines work, then why be asked to wear a mask again if nearly everyone's vaccinated? Or why mandate them even in preference to previous, recent infection if they work so weakly that the masks are requested again?
- andyjohnson0 5y ago
  > If the vaccines work, then why be asked to wear a mask again if nearly everyone's vaccinated? Very few nations (including the US) have vaccination rates that are high enough to generate herd immunity. Vaccines do prevent a vaccinated person from becoming seriously ill if they become infected. Vaccines don't do much to prevent a vaccinated person from becoming infected and, once infected, infecting others. Masks do help to prevent an infected wearer from infecting others. Surgical masks have low effectiveness at preventing the wearer from becoming infected. That's why its important that enough people wear masks: we each protect each-other. Individualistic societies seem to be having a particular problem with these concepts.
  - CRConrad 5y ago
    > Individualistic societies seem to be having a particular problem with these concepts. Above all, the more individualistic individuals even within those societies. To spell it out: Even in America -- which for all I know you, andyjohnson0, could well be from just like I'm pretty sure helloworld11 is -- there are sensible people like you. But yes, in those societies three are more of the helloworld11-style "Rah, rah, mah freedum!" ones than elsewhere.

krageon 5y ago

> completely forced narrative People are dying or getting sick and it impacts their lives. Nothing forced about that narrative. If it bothers you to read about it, you could probably hold off on reading new things for five years. Perhaps things will have changed then.

justin66 5y ago

> nearly complete vaccination Are you being dishonest or are you really that poorly informed?