this is a good thread, and talks about something I've noticed a lot - we went into lockdown on the farm 2 months ago ...but it all FEELS like LARPing. At some level I don't really believe it's real, that it's a danger to go out. I think my lack of media exposure is part of thishttps://twitter.com/QiaochuYuan/status/1234178256460365826 …
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3/ ...acutely aware of of provisional the social world we lived in was. Running water was nice, but it wasn't a GIVEN. Rule of law, likewise (and, as I got to see later in my own life, we don't fully have it here in the US; states can just ignore SCOTUS rulings like Heller;
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4/ ...warrants and evidence are required only if the cops don't have overwhelming leverage; proof is required only in court if they can't force you into a plea bargain). People think that houses can never burn down because the fire department is there; gangs can never loot.
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5/ and yet, you don't have to dig deep into history to find that these are not bedrock rules of physics - you only have to look at the third world. Or the second world. Or, most terrifyingly, parts of the first that have slipped backwards. Lebanon used to be a paradise.
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6/ I think one of the reasons that some folks are drawn to the grand narrative of Progress!™ is that it's soothing. If things are going great & only getting better, then the world is safe and secure, not terrifying. You can relax & trust history's arc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY …
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7/ but, as OP says, > nothing is preventing coronavirus from fucking up supply chains and overwhelming hospitals and etc This ties into
@slatestarcodex 's "survive vs thrive". Folks want a safe world to have adult pajama parties in. But wanting don't make it so.Show this thread -
8/ covid-19 can !@# up supply chains covid-23 can do it worse war can break out with China cities can get nuked the four horseman can ride ...and not science fictional grand plot device is needed. We can just slowly slide into Brazilification / Venezuelaification.
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9/ God may be looking out for our souls, be I don't think that there's any reason to suspect that He is guiding the arc of history to exclude plagues, wars, and general decline. The world is dangerous and cruel, but we in the West act as if it's always summer in California 1962
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11/ and even though I think I'm more aware of the provisional nature of our good luck, it's still hard to really internalize anything that's not in your own lap intellectually, I get it. I recognized covid early, stocked up on food, masks, supplies, and locked the farm down
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12/ ...but emotionally, in my gut, I still really don't appreciate it. I've ventured out twice in two months, and both times the mask has felt like dress up, or LARPing. /shrug
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End of conversation
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