2020 March Links

Coronavirus: How Bad is Bad?

I'm seeing a ton of tiptoeing around Coronavirus. Frightened of being proven wrong, few are willing to paint a clear picture of how good and bad it could be, or even what a good/bad outcome even looks like. I can listen to someone talk about it for hours and come away with absolutely no clue what they think best-case / worst-case scenarios are. I can't even ballpark most people's estimates based on the way they're talking about it.

I'm going to try to be different. After a lot of thinking, reading and introspection, here's how I assess the situation:

Coronavirus: Dogmatically, Idiotically, Naively Optimistic

We live in our homes now
with nothing to do
One thing about Coronavirus
is it ain't no flu

More thoughts on Coronavirus

More thoughts on Coronavirus:

Coronavirus: Pandemic or Panic?

Epistemic status: Bro, I'm not an expert.

I have several spurious thoughts at this point on Coronavirus. Here they are:

The Line is Drawn at Sacredness not Severity

Have you heard of The Line? It's the line you're not supposed to cross. It's invisible so it's kinda vague whether or not you crossed it. People seem to think it's in different places so it's even harder to tell if you've crossed it.

We talk about "The" line as if it's one line that we all agree to. But that's not quite right. There are multiple lines for different people. What crosses the line for one person does not cross it for another. The ambiguity is killing me.

Today I want to define the great line.

The Rationalization in Bryan Caplan's Intellectual History

Bryan Caplan's intellectual history is intriguing. When he was in high school he read Ayne Rand, met Murray Rothbard at the Mises Institute, and became an adherent of Austrian Economics. Later, he learned "real" economics and eventually decided that Ayne Rand and the Austrian School of Economics was basically wrong.

Here's the thing; Bryan converted to libertarianism based on Ayne Rand and Austrian Economics. He later threw away his justification for libertarianism but maintained his libertarian conclusions. He found new and genuinely smarter justifications for libertarian doctrine.