Niall Ferguson
Is Paranoia the Key to Pandemic Preparedness?
Hypervigilance Beats Preparation for Unpredictable Crises
Foreign Affairs, 2021
Was ist drin?
Facing a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s better to be paranoid than institutionally unprepared.
Recommendation
Early in 2020, the global leaders who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos were unaware that the 2021 and 2022 in-person meetings wouldn’t happen. Just as they agreed that climate change was humanity’s most imminent threat, a lethal, contagious virus was already spreading. Focusing on one disaster risks ignoring others, like wars, earthquakes or early-stage pandemics, historian Niall Ferguson warns in Foreign Affairs. His illuminating article approaches disaster preparedness in an expansive, unconventional way.
Summary
About the Author
Niall Ferguson, the author of Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
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