‘If a handful of governments had failed, it would be easy to single them out. Instead, the failure was widespread. Most Western governments failed to contain the virus. When so many humans fail, they are not at fault. Politicians are humans. They’re flawed, biased, like you and me. Their failures are understandable.
‘What failed is the system. Systems should be designed to eliminate human failure. Here, they didn’t. Why have western democracies been so bad at incorporating information quickly? Why was decision-making so poor? Why were they so bad at coordinating citizens, which at the end of it is their sole function?
‘Covid is bad, but thankfully its Infection Fatality Rate is not civilization-threatening. Many upcoming challenges will threaten the collapse of our civilizations, from Global Warming to low fertility, inequality or AI. If our governments have been exposed to be incapable of solving even COVID, what will they do about these more important problems?’
Also discussed why politicians made the errors they made, and what that tells us about ourselves and how to prepare for the future:
- Not doing a cost-benefit analysis
- Not accounting for confidence
- Dogmatism
- Social proof
- Availability bias
- Authority
- Escalation of commitment & confirmation bias
- Reinventing the wheel
- Desensitization (and hedonic adaptation, framing, storytelling, and anchoring)
Read here (Uncharted Territories, May 25, 2021)
