| The Paradox of Specialization Dear Daily Prophecy Reader, "That it may live better, [society] creates the state as an instrument. Then [it] gains the upper hand and society has to begin to live for the state… We become dependent on barbarians of specialization."—Jose Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses. Why does it sometimes feel that the nation has been invaded by barbarians? Viral goths are running rampant through the land, laying waste to everything in their paths. The Los Angeles Times reports widespread disruption of the supply chains that supply food to the country. In the US, schools, stadia, Starbucks, theaters, parks, restaurants, beaches, gyms, tennis courts, airports, lie barred or abandoned. Working out by himself, Tom Brady is ushered out of a Tampa park by police. But for all the tragic-comic outrages in the US, damage in the third world is vastly more crushing. Contending that the global lockdown may be the "Greatest Mistake in History," Dennis Prager cites the closures that are ravaging the economy of India and wreaking mass starvation there. The United Nations World Food Program estimates that by the end of the year 260 million people will face starvation. Prager quotes Michael Levitt, professor of structural biology at Stanford Medical School and winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry, "There is no doubt in my mind that when we come to look back on this, the damage done by lockdown will exceed any saving of lives by a huge factor." The Good Doctor Anthony Fauci, by all reports, is an exemplary physician. He's "The Good Doctor," as a fascinating April 20 New Yorker biographic article by Michael Specter enshrines him. Today, nearly all our investments are in his hands. Apart from The New Yorker tic of blaming Donald Trump for all the world's defects, from bad weather to viruses to male sexuality, this article affords a valuable view of the mindset behind the catastrophic response to COVID-19. It also illustrates the Damoclean threat this mentality poses to the American future. Specter concludes with a revealing quote from Fauci: "I give the appearance of being optimistic. But, deep down, I just do everything I possibly can, assuming that the worst will happen, and I've got to stop the worst from happening." Hey, he's a doctor, a specialist in infectious diseases. His job is to stop his patients from dying of infections. Under this mandate, pretty much anything goes. Now he is effectively assuming political power in an effort to stop what he fears is the possibility of millions of deaths from the coronavirus. Here we encounter the paradox of specialization. Every specialist has his own special doomsday theory on which the cautionary principle justifies any expenditure of money, loss of freedom, or imposition of regulatory power. The paradox is that one specialist can have his way and do good in a limited domain. But if all have their way, the doomsday they are trying to stop becomes inevitable. |
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