[ExI] Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder

[Adrian Tymes]

On Fri, Jun 5, 2020 at 10:21 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Since the start of the quarantine, I have been pondering the fact that we
> have built up cities with a population density high enough to make street
> traffic mostly impractical, social distancing nearly impossible and causing
> the proletariat to rely on mass transit, which we already know is
> inherently dangerous.
>
>
>
> For safety reasons, that level of population density must come down.  We
> don’t know how exactly.
>

Contrasting that is the fact that certain services - including ones we have
come to depend on, such as schools and hospitals - are only practical with
certain minimum population densities, and become more efficient - better
able to serve more people on the same budget - with higher population
densities.

Pandemics like this, and other such density-magnified traumas - are a tiny
minority of our time.  This might seem ludicrous right now, while we are in
the middle of this pandemic, but take an honest look back at the past 100
or 200 years, considering how much of the time we are not thus afflicted,
and you will see that it is true.

Further, solutions to density-magnified traumas can be developed.  We
collectively dropped the ball on this one.  Famously, Bill Gates saw it
coming and tried to develop solutions - but even his resources were not
enough on their own.  But let's say that this coronavirus is largely beat
by this time next year, and a repeat will come in 10 years.  Do you think
that we will be as unprepared then as we were when this one struck?  Do you
think that our response next time will be as severe, or any less effective
for being less severe but better directed?

Likewise, every single danger of mass transit can be mitigated - if
resources are put toward mitigating them, which resources can be either
freed up by or generated from the increased population density.  (Although,
ironically, one of the mitigations is to douse the BS that all jobs must be
done on site, that most workers can not be trusted to work from home.
There are some jobs that must be done in person, but there was already a
wide recognition that many jobs done in the office could have been done
from home if only bosses would allow it.  Well, today many bosses are
forced to allow it, and inertia may make that an industry standard,
lowering the fraction of the workforce that needs mass or private transit
to and from an office.)
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