The dark data observations are actually assertions that the present world obeys the expectations for how the world operates according to very small number of people’s (often just one) understanding. This presents the opportunity for those same individuals to force the simulated world to the way that best conforms to their wishes. No one else will know whether the tests are for actual science or for some agenda.
I believe our ancestors approach science-guidance very differently. I believe this came from there being a culture that encouraged everyone to participate in the practice of science and collect of new evidence that undermines old science. This older culture is similar to the automated government of data and urgency. The automated approach emphasizes data representing recent observations from reliable sensors of objects that are not biased by rules based on preconceptions.
Our panicked government locked down non-essential opportunities that most benefit the younger populations. The same government already has decided on a similar trade for a future vaccination program that will primarily impact the younger population and may not even apply to the older population. We are frighteningly close to risking sterilizing our next generation to get this vaccine out. We may have already made that decision with the first imposition of the lock-downs.
The image reminds me of extra-terrestrial aliens in space suits walking in an alien world that has some kind of toxic atmosphere. These are humans. This is no longer their planet. They are temporarily stranded on this alien world and hope that science will bring in their rescue ships, probably in the form of some kind of consciousness upload into an Internet cloud.
The science for how to deal with COVID19 is clear, and it clearly goes against all common sense. This may be a time when the best response to scientific recommendation is to dismiss it as ridiculous.
The current democratic government is run by politicians, bureaucrats, and electorate who all are gaslighted into distrusting their own observations that disprove the original explanations and projections. We need to ignore what we are seeing and continue on the original plan because it was based on infallible science, science we know is proven because we can replicate the experiments that prove it.
The absolute and accumulated numbers are only important for political gains for electing parties and politicians. A government by data and urgency has no such politician elections so these numbers are not meaningful as long as the survival rate is sustainable. From an operational perspective, what matters is maintaining sufficient capacity to handle the new cases.
The biggest failing of science in the current COVID situation is its inability to react to new evidence that its original conclusions were wrongly decided, and the assurances to governments were incompetent. We implicitly accept that any initial science-based decisions attains some law-like status that is automatically presumed to be true until there is overwhelming evidence that it is wrong. In particular, such decision making does not permit a simple apology for making a mistake following new data that clearly disproves the original science.
We are investing a lot of effort in developing and testing a vaccine that we hope can stop the spread of this disease. Realistically, we might find a vaccine that simply reduces the number of vulnerable people. A similar outcome might be achieve more quickly by simply reducing the anxiety and fear about this disease. The disease could become something we do not need to fear by convincing ourselves that it is something that we do not need to fear.
let’s act in a way so our children can have a prosperous future.
