Category Archives: Life

From being to seeming: why empirical scientists failed in times of Covid.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Paul Frijters

There have long been scientists who were celebrities in their own time. Galileo, Keppler, Goodall, Linneus, Cousteau, Darwin, Smith, Leeuwenhoek, Da Vinci, Ibn Khaldhun, Curie, and many others in the last 800 years were followed and admired. They in many … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Geeky Musings, Health, Life, Philosophy, Politics - national, Religion, Science, Social Policy, Society, Theatre | 15 Comments

What kind of crowd are we now seeing? The 5 surprises in this pandemic.

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Paul Frijters

There are 5 aspects of the covid-19 pandemic I really did not see coming, all pointing to a phenomenon that European sociologists of a century ago spent their whole lives describing, coming up with theories about crowds and their behaviour … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, History, Life, Philosophy, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Society, Theatre | 117 Comments

Covid Humour to lighten the load

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Paul Frijters

If you, like me, believe our collective hysteria is needlessly causing the world tens of millions of deaths and enormous unhappiness, you surely need a bit of humour to keep going. So let’s view the whole crisis via a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Humour, Libertarian Musings, Life | Leave a comment

Covid strategies for Australia: herd immunity or quarantine land?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Paul Frijters

Let’s talk about some of the covid policy options facing Australia in the coming months and years. It seems to me we can either grasp the nettle and accept we will get a wave of highly visible covid-19 deaths before … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Employment, Health, History, Journalism, Libertarian Musings, Life, Politics - international, Politics - national | 16 Comments

On Corona/Covid-19, herd immunity and WELLBY tradeoffs: key predictions and numbers

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Paul Frijters

[in progress: will add more references, links and latest numbers when I get the time] In this note, I want to deal with three related issues: the main lessons on the corona virus from the reported deaths across countries with … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Education, Employment, Health, IT and Internet, Libertarian Musings, Life, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Social Policy, Society | 52 Comments

6 post-Corona Institutional questions

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Paul Frijters

The mass hysteria of the corona crisis is raging, with the resulting self-isolation of whole economies and populations. The loss seems greater with every new forecast on the economic collapse than I initially thought, and the benefit of imprisoning and … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Climate Change, Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Health, History, Life, Political theory, Politics - international, Public and Private Goods, regulation, Religion, Science, Social, Society, Terror | 20 Comments

It is 1984. A message from London.

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Paul Frijters

People shuffling in the street, afraid to look others in the eye, get close, and be accused. Fear as a silent ghost hovering above the city, watching us, like drones. The panic in the eye of the mother as her … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and Architecture, Dance, Life, Society, Uncategorized | Leave a comment