What is a healthy state of mind? I don't see
many people who are not distracting themselves
or numbing themselves. Is that the best we can
hope for? Is all business distraction and is
all rest numbing?
I suppose this is the sort of question that
you can only ask in a time of relative luxury
compared to human existences through the ages.
If you had a family that was chronically on the
brink of starvation, you would not be asking.
Is that why people are so into disaster movies?
Living in an emergency makes your role in it
seem more than just a distraction.
Of course it is also in some very real way true
that a regular career is a complete waste of time
when compared to the necessities of surviving
disaster.
I've been listening to podcasts about effective
altruism and how to have an impactful career.
Some of it is a bit high flung. I mean, talking
about the heat death of the universe is not
what I would call effective use of time.
But other stuff is very interesting. I just
listened the 80000 Hours Podcast about reacting
to a virus like the Corona and it is just pretty
amazing how humanity is constantly being caught
with their pants downs. It really seems to me like
most people who are supposed to be "responsible"
are just collecting a paycheck, not really trying
to get into shape for the next big hit. Just
things like, there are no extra beds for a big
outbreak. The personal protection that hospitals
have (like masks and gloves) will run out in a
couple of days if the supply line is interrupted.
And the supply is coming from China, which seems
to be where all these flus come from as well, so
you can bet that in case of a biggie the supply
lines will be interrupted. Most countries don't
have a general plan to an unknown pandemic with high
infection rate.
And this is not the only field where things are
like this. It's really absurd. You can look
anywhere and you have a bunch of lazy bureaucrats
sitting on their asses. And if you go there and
try to make things better, they will actively
try to stop you since you make them look bad.
