I don't know. It's not impossible but to me, it looks less likely than it did in early January—more data. Cases down, vaccinations up, seasonality in our favor. I support sensible precautions (go outdoors! wear masks indoors!) & vaccinating as fast we can. https://t.co/TAHDOC9aSh

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) February 21, 2021

The more I think about it, the more I think a spring/summer third wave is very, very unlikely, despite all the alarmism I’ve been seeing about the Covid variants lately. Vaccination is ramping fine, seasonality is with us, and 30%+ of Americans have already had Covid.

All this equals no third wave.

Future historians will date the real start of the climate crisis with Hurricane Katrina, in 2005.

This looks like a fashion line that was a collab with @personfaces angel/demon designs https://t.co/n8qkZ19Skq

— Mostly Coffee (on hiatus…kinda) (@95percentcoffee) February 21, 2021

These will be my Galactic Overlord dresses when I am in my female form.

I see the hashtag #InsteadOfGoingToMars and I think, huh, the budget of NASA is 1/200th of the federal budget, 3% of the military budget, a third of what we spend on just cigarettes… and for that we get the entire Universe. Seems like a damn good deal to me.

— Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) February 20, 2021

I don’t think it has anything to do with money. The psychological issue is deeper than that: many people — perhaps even a bare majority — just hate anything unfamiliar or that’s not helping them directly (in their minds). Most people have laser vision on absolute horseshit and can’t think five minutes ahead. The pandemic has demonstrated that incredibly well.

It is stunning to me that a top researcher at an Ivy League school literally cannot think properly about his subject area at all, and furthermore has no compunction admitting this publicly.

But that has been the case for the entire pandemic, hasn’t it? Rarely do I find common cause with Cowen, but in this he’s totally right. Our experts have been almost worthless during this crisis and I wish I could figure out why.

Some of the feats that Zeynep Tufekci and I have achieved are the equivalent of entering the Australian Open and winning it, which should just not be remotely possible. It just should not be a thing that can or does happen. I think part of if it is that academia, in many areas, has been optimized for appearing right rather than being right. And this is exactly the wrong way to handle a pandemic. But other factors I am still considering.

I’m so proud of everyone for pretending there was no reason to believe this until now.

Just incredible epistemic discipline. Almost certainly no unintended consequences. https://t.co/iObjFu6sQZ

— Dustin Moskovitz (@moskov) February 21, 2021

Yeah, it was quite the “expert” and press performance, wasn’t it? Almost makes one want to become a full-on conspiracy theorist.

People sitting in a line all along the beach – apparently this is against the lockdown rules. Was obvious that many people were in groups of more than 2 households. As the weather gets better people will ignore rules. pic.twitter.com/4j5yZ3bBz8

— GuruAnaerobic (@GuruAnaerobic) February 20, 2021

Breaking moronic and harmful rules is a civic duty.