36. Do not ask a front line doctor how this crisis is being managed
There has been a lot of criticism of the management of the coronavirus pandemic by government coming from the medical profession, particularly from those in overwhelmed emergency rooms. The criticism is not only on specific local problems, but often on national or global policy decisions, it’s given a podium by the media and it’s listened to by the public. This makes sense, right? It is a health emergency, listen to the doctors. But this is a mistake. Doctors in the front line don’t know what effects policy decisions are having at large and they don’t know what their close environment would be like if they had not been taken. Their view, at the height of the crisis, is catastrophic, because of where they are. Their opinions are coloured by availability bias, which we should all be aware of, and this means we should all read Kahnemann and Tversky. Would you ask an extremely busy, single, divorce litigation lawyer whether marrying is a good idea? You do not get the wider view from the s...