Link of the day: Consider controlled infection
Robin Hanson has written a thought-provoking piece, suggesting it might be a smart idea to deliberately infect with the 2019 Corona virus. He starts from the assumption that the virus is likely to become a global pandemic. His argument hinges on the assumption that we will experience a global and can do little to prevent it. With almost everybody likely to be infected anyway, he says, the one thing we can do is change the timing of the infection, making sure that vital parts of the society are not all hit at the same time.
After significant pushback, Hanson has written a second article, layout out his thoughts in more detail