Mermelstein: Great post
That sounds completely right.
This virus thing raises lots of philosophical questions. I tend to be pretty utilitarian in my thinking. Whatever produces the most overall happiness....
Does shutting down the world for months and causing massive economic disruption really make sense to avoid the virus, if indeed it even succeeds? Hard to decide without putting a price on life, which is difficult.
Do all the 25 year olds who are losing jobs and now can't make rent support a lockdown policy when they have about a 100% survival rate even if they get the flu?
Are we punishing the young to protect the old and unproductive (like me)?
Even if 10,000,000 people died, that would be about 0.13% of a massively overpopulated world. Would that be acceptable if it avoided global depression, government defaults or hyperinflation, massive unemployment, rising crime, and perhaps aggressive militarism a la the rise of WWII?
I don't know any answers but sure have a lot of questions.
