merjet

Yes, tentatively. I say "tentatively" since the Worldometer numbers change often and ceteris paribus. Based on the following numbers captured only minutes ago, the mortality rate for Italy is about 7.4 times that for Switzerland. I added Spain and the USA this time. Date Country Total Cases Total Deaths Tot Cases/ 1M pop Tot Deaths/ 1M pop Deaths / Cases 3/25/2020 Italy 69,176 6,820 1,144 113 9.86% 3/25/2020 Spain 47,610 3434 1,018 73 7.21% 3/25/2020 Switzerland 10,171 135 1,175 16 1.33% 3/25/2020 USA 54,963 784 166 2 1.43% Also, the age distribution of the countries' infected populations may differ and mortality rates vary significantly by age regardless. For example the following are mortality rates from the 2016 US Life Table. Death probability Age Male Female 65 0.015808 0.009761 70 0.023122 0.015413 75 0.035963 0.025035 80 0.057712 0.042539 85 0.096603 0.073763 90 0.163689 0.129706 Recognizing the caveats, I believe it is still safe to say that Switzerland's health care system is handling the pandemic much better than Italy's or Spain's. Based on this page, it seems that Spain's health care system is very much under government control with patients paying very little. There is some private health insurance.

Coronavirus #4 *** Moderator Note*** Further discussion spurred by this post split to: C & C Coronavirus #4

It will probably be on YouTube shortly afterward. “THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT DURING A HEALTH CRISIS” Wednesday, March 25, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific Governments are taking unprecedented measures to restrict travel and shut down businesses in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Politicians are justifying these measures by invoking emergency, even wartime, powers. What is the proper role of government during a health crisis like this one? What values should guide us in thinking about proper policy in regard to life and death issues, especially in an individualistic society? Join us for another special episode of Philosophy for Living on Earth to get clarity on these questions. Onkar Ghate and Gregory Salmieri will join us and add their perspective. To join us live, click here at 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT. Or, go to https://zoom.us/join and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718. To join by phone, dial +1 (646) 876-9923 and use Meeting ID: 812-506-718.

Coronavirus - finance

Coronavirus #3

I haven't read the book, but suspect it is trash based on brief descriptions of it that I have seen and the video you posted interviewing the author. At about 3 minutes, she uses the phrase "no intellectual depth." That aptly describes Duggan herself.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/04/09/ayn-rand-siren-selfishness/ Cass Sunstein's reviews The Siren of Selfishness in The New York Review of Books. I read what is visible to non-subscribers. I am not tempted to subscribe to read the rest. The review ends with: "It wasn’t as though I detected a logical flaw in Rand’s writing and decided to embrace altruism, or that I began to like the New Deal and the welfare state. It was more visceral than that. Reading and thinking about Rand’s novels felt like being trapped in…" Is that entrapment? It's at least clever marketing.

Coronavirus #2

"How To Think about Coronavirus and Our Society's Response" is now on YouTube. Yaron Brook also did a show yesterday about the coronavirus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s89AJYF7T5M

Today's ARI Webinar session is "How To Think about Coronavirus and Our Society's Response." The starting time is 1:30 p.m. Eastern / 10:30 a.m. Pacific. Registration is needed, but that is free. https://courses.aynrand.org/webinars/register

Coronavirus #1

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/errors_of_knowledge_vs_breaches_of_morality.html

The Washington Compost

ITEP smears TurboTax

Dr. Peter Lin on coronavirus

Forbes: Climate change alarmist incoherence 'All rise' for Clarence Thomas

Aaron Smith of ARI preaches to the choir. https://newideal.aynrand.org/whats-wrong-with-our-notion-of-selfishness/

Bernie Sanders' deceptive tax numbers

Rand used the term unit in two ways: 1. Member of a set or class: “A concept is a mental integration of two or more units which are isolated according to a specific characteristic(s) and united by a specific definition” (ITOE, 10). 2. The basis of measurement: “Observe that measurement consists of relating an easily perceivable unit to larger or smaller quantities, then to infinitely larger or infinitely smaller quantities, which are not directly perceivable to man” (ITOE, 8).

I agree. Regarding length, one can distinguish between extension and length. The first is an attribute of many entities. The second is, strictly speaking, a relationship rather than an attribute. For example, the pencil's length is 6 inches determined by measuring it, for example, laying a ruler alongside the pencil and observing numbers on the ruler. Using this distinction, the child in Ayn Rand's example in ITOE (page 11) grasped extension, not length.

World Bank's pandemic bonds

ProPublica never satisfied Sanders' and Warren's lack of sacrifice

You might like my essay "Omissions And Measurement" in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Volume 7, No. 1 – Fall 2005, pp. 383-405. The entire essay can be read on jstor.org with a free membership.

1. Consider different contents of books. Some books are fiction and others are non-fiction. Types of fiction are mystery, romance, children’s stories, etc. Types of nonfiction are history, science, mathematics, music, food recipes, etc. These various contents are congruous but not commensurable. The differences between them that need to be omitted to form the concept book are qualitative, not measurable. 2. Consider different kinds of boats. There are rowboats, some with an outboard motor, some are steamboats, some have an inboard diesel engine, some have paddle wheels, some airboats/fanboats, and so forth. The different kinds of locomotive power are qualitative differences. That some aspect of the different kinds, e.g. horsepower, is measurable does not overturn the fact the some differences between the kinds are only qualitative. 3. A child capable of identifying different colors is not measuring anything. People who lived before it was known that colors reflect different light wave lengths/frequencies were not measuring anything. Also, a wave length is a length, not a color.

This suggests a metaphor. Classifying pertains to the skeleton. A fuller understanding adds flesh. Your use of circles suggests Venn diagrams, which are depicted spatially. My essay '"The Sim-Dif Model and Comparison" cited above uses Venn diagrams extensively. Interesting.