So many people have bought into the “Don’t worry about it” syndrome as a case of pretending to be wise, that I have become more pessimistic about humanity correctly responding to global catastrophic risks in the future.
See also this story which gives another view of what happened:
Most importantly, Italy looked at the example of China, Ms. Zampa said, not as a practical warning, but as a “science fiction movie that had nothing to do with us.” And when the virus exploded, Europe, she said, “looked at us the same way we looked at China.”
BTW can you say something about why you were optimistic before? There are others in this space who are relatively optimistic, like Paul Christiano and Rohin Shah (or at least they were—they haven’t said whether the pandemic has caused an update), and I’d really like to understand their psychology better.
See also this story which gives another view of what happened:
BTW can you say something about why you were optimistic before? There are others in this space who are relatively optimistic, like Paul Christiano and Rohin Shah (or at least they were—they haven’t said whether the pandemic has caused an update), and I’d really like to understand their psychology better.