Pandemics

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We're sort of in the uncanny valley here with respect to pandemics, where it's just not dangerous enough to really nullify all political controversy. I think that if the next respitory pendemic happens within our lifetimes, or within 30 or forty or 50 years, we will do better. But if it happens more than that, it'll be like people will forget and this is why, by the way, plagues have been a part of the human experience. Our ancestors tried to warn us. The plagues are in the bible. They are in shakespeare. The theyre in the iliad. And yet, we didn't heed the warning of our ancestors.

Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the lessons of the COVID pandemic. They discuss our failures to coordinate an effective response, the politics surrounding vaccination, vaccine efficacy, vaccine safety, how to think about scientific controversies, the epidemiology of excess deaths, transmission among the vaccinated, natural immunity, selection pressures and new variants, the failure of institutions, the lab-leak hypothesis, the efficacy of lockdowns, vaccine mandates, boosters, what would happen in a worse pandemic, and other topics.

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