June 8, 2020 – Has the Shutdown Been Worth It?

Has the Shutdown Been Worth It? It’s not a yes-or-no question.

At what point did we stop being able to engage in complex thinking? It seems that every conversation about the pandemic (and health, and politics ,and economics, and, and, and) gets boiled down to an either-or choice.

You either agree that COVID-19 is a serious health threat, or you don’t.

You either see the need for the government to limit people’s movements to slow the spread of COVID-19, or you don’t.

You either agree that paying the economic price of shutting down the economy is necessary, or you don’t.

But when people are asked to think about all these things at the same time and how they’re interrelated, that when people’s brains seem to go tilt and we get stuck.