[ExI] Even India and Haiti do it better

[Mike Dougherty]

On Thu, May 7, 2020, 2:33 PM Dylan Distasio via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> John, a serious question, what is the point of constantly posting updated
> US numbers here?  Even if we suppose the IFR is close to the flu, there are
> still unfortunately going to be some deaths here.
>

I propose that it is because we know nothing else.  Even these published
numbers are suspect, but there is some comfort in raw numbers. The hope
that even uncertainty has a number that eventually all the numbers can be
known and it will make sense.

That said, it may be a dangerous delusion.

We try to find "sense" in the distribution of prime numbers; we'll make up
convoluted patterns when we can't find anything obvious.

I see John's death count numbers as an invitation to explain disparity
between "normalized" percentages or per capita or per day.  Any relation in
this data would propose a pattern.. any pattern constrains the chaos.

I know, everyone assumes John has an axe to grind (so? doesn't everyone?)
but constantly telling him to stop talking because you assume the point he
might make says you don't want to find anything else.  Or turn the
conversation to whatever topic interests you.  Despite repeatedly being
called a troll (even by me) he continues to contribute to this list.

In this isolation-induced boredom and frustration, can we try to be
understanding? If you really don't think that's possible, I suggest
learning how your email client can filter messages you don't want to read.


>
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