Dear Barry,

Like Trump, I wash my hands of any responsibility for my ultracrepidarianism ... it's all Obama's fault!

Regards,

Bob

PS but seriously, I believe the Internet (specifically Google) had a lot to do with the plague of ultracrepidarians that beset us nowadays ... more than we realize!

Hi, "what" ... The false feeling that we are the center of the world. I also find this phenomenon quite curious. This attitude was visible before, but now it becomes obvious.

I think this is related to the fact many of us have never faced the world as it is really in order to feel and live the place that we have in it. So we stay with the false impression that we know and can manage the world. To get more realistic thoughts, one has to e.g. stay a few hours on a boat during a storm in the sea, or something of similar. I think that once per month is enough.

Then - we count the specialists in everything.

Это так естественно, Велина, быть центром. Это азы теории относительности. У Вселенной нет центра, т.е. центром можно считать любой ее объект.

I love this question

I get you Velina about impressions. I posted a number of academic questions and no-one replied. I think a lot has to do with the fact some think the more they reply to questions their RG goes up I just wanted to learn new things..

I get you Velina about impressions. I posted a number of academic questions and no-one replied. I think a lot has to do with the fact some think the more they reply to questions their RG goes up

I get you Velina about impressions. I posted a number of academic questions and no-one replied. I think a lot has to do with the fact some think the more they reply to questions their RG goes up.

I feel I have learned so much from you all, as you engage deeply with your knowledge. Very few other threads have decent debates and are 1 word or 1 sentence answers. Cannot pronounce ultracrepidarianism…..and the covid? I am not a scientist and I have been baffled by many debates. I now know a little about Russian foreign policy which the summary provided by Barry is perfect. And I am now getting to understand Putin better, as political leadership is crazy everywhere.

Who would believe we voted Boris in.

But Andrew Neil..for all folks not in UK he's a very smart guy and witty. I hate his politics but he is entertaining.

Good question! I believe this is not a phenomenon unique to crisis situations. A simple answer is, because it is something many people are focused on, in the moment, and their lives are directly impacted. And consider how sports aficionados behave, at sporting events. Everyone is an expert, no?

In the case of RG participants, perhaps we have the added dimension that everyone's business is to dissect and analyze data. It's what we always do anyway. So here we have a subject for analysis that everyone around the world is tuned into. As opposed to just our own projects, that most people don't relate to, and would most likely pass up, in favor of something more in their sphere of interest.

It's all good. People shouldn't be bashful about airing their views. That's how we learn.

Hello Barry Turner ,

I reject the premise of your question. We do not become experts in a time of crisis. What we do during a crisis is ask how could the experts not have averted the crisis in the first place? This causes us to discuss and offer opinions.

Whether it is the financial crisis of 2007-2008, or the destruction of the space shuttles Columbia and Challenger, we wonder out loud how the experts, who were charged with overseeing these systems, could have been so wrong. Sure, one could say that these catastrophes were the result of the recommendations of the experts being filtered through the pithy sensibilities of policy makers, management, salespeople, etc., but does that not imply that experts are viewed as fallible by their quotidian masters? After all, an expert is sometimes defined as someone who has made all the mistakes, and since no one has made all the mistakes in a given field, no one is truly an expert.

Certainly experts have more experience in their field than laypersons, but does this necessarily guarantee successful prognostication? Perhaps being down amongst the weeds obstructs one's view of the lawn of life. Remember the adage, none so blind as the expert. Time and time again, we purchase and use software that comes from the factory with operational and/or security bugs in spite of person years of experience. How many updates and upgrades must we endure as we trod this too, too solid Earth? I am no expert on software, or other fields, but I know something is rotten in the state of software, finance, health care, etc., even if I cannot exactly say what it is. The experts can and should correct me if I am wrong in my musings, but ones musings must always exceed ones understanding, or what's a heaven for, eh?

Regards,

Tom Cuff

Barry, I think many colleagues did not have the experience to see the astonishing things that have been sent on RG as the opinion of "leading specialists". Was it a comedy or a tragedy to observe how people, scientists, that should be aware they are not competent in the domain, not only express opinions but argue based on such strange fakes, distributed in the social nets for unclear reasons?

Trump is the ultracrepidarianist, non pariel!

In Trump's case it is clearly a complex of mental disorders, paramount among which is a pathological narcissism ... greatly exacerbated by the onset of dementia. At least that's my ultracrepidarianistic opinion!

Dear Barry,

Like Trump, I wash my hands of any responsibility for my ultracrepidarianism ... it's all Obama's fault!

Regards,

Bob

PS but seriously, I believe the Internet (specifically Google) had a lot to do with the plague of ultracrepidarians that beset us nowadays ... more than we realize!

Hahahaaa! Yea... Bob, have you had your dose of disinfectant today?

I wonder shell we stop pointing to some supposed enemy and never acknowledge that things that are out of our capacities can happen. This goes to the extent that the scientists are now the reason - they did not see what will happen and, very scandalous - they still have no solution. I propose to stop their fundings too. They understand nothing and even do not agree between them. Science has to have always all the answers. Why does it exists - paid on our taxes? We want our comfort.

I already reminded here to Barry and other colleagues that when the Europeans reached American lands, the local population got so sick of a stupid flue, that 3/4 died. They had never met this exact flue.

Will someone remind me. please, when was Louis Pasteur born?

Some feel to be expert “in a crisis” It’s only an illusion, it’s the result of being spoon fed with a huge bulk of information

I agree with all of you and we are right to think of internet and the is managed and changed lives.

The maximum clicks was always design feature and it has given rise to so much I'll educated tripe on YouTube. Provided ways to create virtual identities.

And then Trump came in and we had Presidency by Twitter which was never a serious avenue for Presidents....and now all MPs are on it.

The problem is there is now such vast news on social media it's difficult to obtain it, and some may collect only certain feeds that are narrowly viewed

Best

Barry you are right about misinformation. Bob you are right about Trump

Aside from internet Development, politicians have been changing, as a concern about serving communities is now replaced with career ambitions. So duty, care, and building of nation is more individualized, of course power grabbing has been central to many leadership roles, but Trump's narcissistic behaviour stands out so much.

His leadership and fake news is a clever process of manipulation......we thought cold war difficult, what is it like now? Where we so much data

Ps

What politicians do is explain what went wrong and who to blame.

Ales, after Bob told us that he washed his hands, I place him in Judaea. This place will soon become overpopulated. The UN should think about how to provide more soap there. Yet another problem could be the water, but I hope the question of who can use the underground water near Gaza will be temporarily suspended until all wash their hands. It is strongly recommended by WHO.

Нас услышали, Велина. В Минске в продаже появилась 70-ти градусная водка. Все клиенты Барри приглашаются в Минск на парад в честь Победы над здравым смыслом. Это фактический материал, Велина, так же как и то, что англичане тоже начали пить в три раза больше...

Linguists and communication/discourse professionals found themselves in the stormy ocean of narratives, live-streaming material and an excellent opportunity to observe the dynamics of different discourses and fact/opinion filters. Those who work outside their homelands became experts in a quite valid cross-cultural COVID discourse comparison between at least two countries.

Hello Barry Turner ,

I just realized that your question is asking us to be experts on the subject of experts and nonexperts. In that way, the question is self-referential. But are we members of the set of experts of experts, or are we simply members of the set of experts? But if we are members of the set of experts doesn't that imply that we are also members of the set of nonexperts since there are going to be some subjects on which we are not experts such as expertise about experts?

Are we not doing in this question what you are chiding nonexperts not to do?

Regards,

Tom Cuff

Ales, Dear Friend,

So far, I have eluded CV (which doctors say would be almost certain death for me because i have a compromised immune system from the chemo-therapy I was halfway through when canceled by the pandemic panic). I'm still successfully hiding-out in my home (since Mar 13th), with CV (like the Repo Man ?) stalking me just outside my door trying to deliver a certain death warrant. Our idiotic Republican Texas governor (always in thrall to big business/financial interests to the exclusion of public welfare and safety ... a typical Trumpist) is already taking measures to prematurely lift the quarantine and "get back to business as usual."

My future looks tenous ... even though I am well-stocked with masks, hand-sanitizer, and just took delivery of 3-gallons of 99% (lab-grade) isopropyl alcohol.

I have studiously avoided taking any of the advice of our Ultracrepidarian-in-Chief, and refused to inject myself with disinfectants, drink bleach, or shove a UV lamp up my bum to ward-off coronovirus ;)

I hope you and family are staying safe & well.

Best regards,

Bob

In a new and unknown situation it is very natural that people have different ideas about how to act. This is good for the evolution of knowledge, since afterwards it is possible to compare different strategies.

This COVID-19 is changing the world in a strange manner....

Dear Friend, Ales,

Very smart attire! I am lucky, here, and already had a service where you shop for groceries online, and they deliver at your door (the only difference is after the pandemic, the shoppers have to wait-in-line for interminable times to get into the stores, they have to wear masks & gloves, and many staple items are often unavailable (like eggs, milk, butter, bread and bottled water, esp. the brand of Italian sparkling water I favored), unless you're willing to buy "off brands" at 3x or 4x the usual price).

Here's how I would look if I had to go shopping for my groceries ... heee heee

Let's be kind to ultracrepidarianism.

We can comment on social, economic and political change generally, and on this thread quite diligently.

Cuff you say Barry encourages us to experts on the subject of experts and nonexperts..

Of course he does. Fake news, the tittle of Twitter, meaning, the little,.

I read a just out PwC report.. they've merged with another...and they say for future employability we don't need knowledge we just need to access data

So we are almost doing a farenheit 451, or a newspeak.

We have glitz and glamour in providing tittle tattle and no depth

It's all intermingled with lack of reading, learning. School incapacity, university weakening standards....

And when you hear Trump he has little eloquence about anything. Putin does. Xi does. Trudeau???

Hey Bob, dear friend, stay safe at home and wait.

As you saw, the local Pilate in Minsk is even crazier than yours.

There is an antidote: Check the facts, thinks the arguments through and draw your own conclusions. Or, if you prefer the enlightenment version: have the courage to use your own mind. There was never a time when we needed this more then now.

Stay safe!

Best,

Sven Beecken

Experience in crisis management in different scenarios is what makes us experts.

Velina Slavova , Dear Friend,

It is so good to hear from you. Strangely, now that I am forced to stay home with little of interest to occupy my time, I spend very little time on ResearchGate ! A year ago, when I was pressed from all sides with demands on my time, I usually spent an hour-or-two daily on RG. I have missed your good company and thoughts.

My fondest regards ... please stay safe & well (and remember to wash your hands! If you don't have adequate water, alcohols are a good substitute ... and our friend Eugene F Kislyakov probably can attest to the efficacy of vodka)

Bob

Bob, I am very glad, too, to hear from you!

I have disappeared from the philosophical number theory amazement, true. The cases of ultracrepidarianism are sometimes tiring for me to follow and react. They appear often when someting is not easy to be captured as a hall, especially when several distant domains are directly involved.

My friend Eugene sent me some gallons of 90% alcohol, I think he produces it at home... As you know, nuclear physicists are very inventive. We had some disagreements concerning the mode of application - internal or external, but finally, we negotiated that 70% are for internal use. Since then he speaks to me only in Russian, as you see.

I live in isolation as everyone else I know in the world. I have always been the enemy number one of the distant education, pretending that if I cannot see the empty looks of the students I don't know where to stop. Now I do videos. It is very time-consuming. A big part of the time I spend to invent the cruelest homeworks, with problems for which one cannot find any solution on the Internet. That's how I have found so many false reasonings, for so classical issues, that I am not astonished that people, in general, have lost the sense of correctness and reliability of the said. I knew before that this phenomenon exists, but now I am impressed by the social, namely - the educational status of the public that it touches.

Yea... It is St Georges today... A national holiday here. I send you my best wishes in the usual for the country Celtic way. https://www.vbox7.com/play:172a00a776&start=26

With our technical progress languages is no matter, Velina.

Alcohol is one of the results of lockdowns. Not all are Newtons and Pushkins. Average people are drinking...

Eugene " Alcohol is one of the results of lockdowns. "

Yea... several effects. Do you know this joke? "Dearest, maybe it is not so bad ... this lockdown, we'll have time for sex..." "How? We can even not go out!"

Love it Velina

Bob, have you seen the real expert in epidemiology? I am sorry but your president has to take some lessons as a beginner. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52574749

At the Northern VA Chabad Center Synagogue one of our members is the Chief Epidemiologist of Fairfax County and he tells us that they are doing the right thing. The problem is political Trump advised by Dr. Fauci is using the pandemia to win the electoral process and be reelected President of the United States, that is his main concern plus the economy . That is the big problem not the epidemiologists. In Italy a team of pathologists after making research at the morgue and the hospitals discovered that they can cure the Corona Virus with antibiotics and send the patients to their houses with great results, as well as in the Southern Cone of the Western Hemisphere.

Velina Slavova asks: Bob, have you seen the real expert in epidemiology? I am sorry but your president has to take some lessons as a beginner. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52574749

Dear Friend,

I do not pray very often (because I am about 99.44% scientist/agnostic), but I prayed for the good people of Belarus when I became aware that their leader was a bigger moron than Trump, as well as a more strident ultracrepidarian!

Best wishes for your health & safety,

Bob

Yes, Bob, Dear Friend, let us pray for people in Belarus.

Best wishes, stay safe! We wait.

To be an expert there has to be an established base of knowledge to be expert in. While we have experts in virology and epidemiology the peculiarities of this novel virus have demonstrated graphically that no one is actually an expert in SARS-Covid.

It a bit like planetary science in some ways. There are many planetary scientists who understand in great detail the workings of the planets in the Solar System in varying degrees but are less certain about exo-planets.

This is way we should not slavishly believe that because someone is an expert that they must be right. Science is as bout verification, if an expert tells you something question it. Science is not about belief.

Barry Turner If i may make a very minor academic and pedantic point, with due respect. Science is about the inability to disprove. I never accept a null hypothesis. i am not able to reject a null hypothesis. a very subtle but important difference.

Joseph

Science is about verifiability rather than an inability to disprove. If an experiment is carried out it is necessary for it to be independently verifiable before its results are accepted as 'fact'.

It is very often the case that confounders will render a program of research void or result in a null hypothesis. Scientific method is a quality control device designed to ensure that both sloppy work and fraud are eliminated from out knowledge base.

It doe not always work of course but it is better than nothing. One his is clear it is never sufficient to accept a scientific opinion or observation simply on the grounds that it is being offered by an expert. Experts are often wrong and a real expert will value analysis and criticism of their work.

Bob I agree with you most of the problems in which we are now is because of Trump mental disorders. He fights with everybody in the international arena with China, with Iran, with Venezuela with his staff at the White House, with the Middle East.Even with his pandemia advisors like Dr. Fauci, with the World Health Organization. He is creating a lot of problems and in the middle of the crisis he sends 20,000 soldiers to Europe I think he is completely out of control and desperate to be reelected as president of the United States.

The virus was something new. This, though there were always people who were better qualified to comment on it than others, gave those who are ignorant but fancy themselves as all-knowing, a great "excuse" (as they thought) to pontificate in sheer ignorance and produce all sorts of nonsense. Trump was merely the most-published example of such a person. The more ignorance there is of something, the more "opinions", "insights" and even supposed "knowledge" we get from those unknowing. Such people will claim "knowledge" in areas where there IS knowledge, too, but if there actually is LITTLE knowledge they are particularly active and see the matter as one for "native insight", so to speak, i.e. "my opinion is worth as much as yours".

I agree with you, Joost. Something new and unknown, so we all try to solve it. However, I would not propose solutions in the domain of the English language, as I suppose there are specialists that can do this much better. Moreover, I would not contradict you if you discover some paths in the domain of discourse analysis, saying that not everything there is clear. And, something else - it is not exactly true that we face something new. Humans have faced several such situations and have behaved in a similar way, as this way shows results. The fact that they did not know what the reason is and did not know about viruses at all only shows that we know much more than before. This does not mean we know everything. People that cannot do the difference between e.g. DNA and RNA should simply listen to those who have knowledge in the domains related to the event instead of giving advises with the tone of specialists, thus inspiring doubts in the planet's population.

Thanks Velina. Just to clarify: I meant simply that the corona virus emerged as something new AT THIS TIME, particularly also in its vigour. I did not mean to imply that no such thing as happened in history before! As to people commenting in ignorance: I think that doing so is always a bad thing, in principle, but particularly in the case of something so intricate (life-threatening, too!) as the emergence and nature of this virus. And modesty is required in all areas of knowledge, I agree. That said, I agree with you that discourse is by no means always clear and that we need to analyse it carefully all the time!

Thank you Joost. Very helpful clarification, I agree entirely with you. I will also develop my reasoning a bit. You say: " ... the corona virus emerged as something new AT THIS TIME ..." true! I suggest that scientists should be more knowledgeable and morally mature to realize that we, our knowledge (as much as it is), and technologies, and comfort, and all we are accustomed to living with, are a result of long civilizational experience, practically incomparable with our own existence. The world has not started with our birth. We should have a general look at history, culture, science, etc. This strange ignorance of the fact that we represent a small part of an entire world, in physical, biological, historical, and all the rest of the possible senses, shows that our civilization has started to consist of selfish consumers. I hope I am wrong. Or, maybe, we have access to everything that appears and many are proud to become a center of attention by speaking nonsense aloud. Well, why do we elect some of them? Something makes people believing such individuals. You tell what - you may analyze their discourse... I am afraid I have quite disappointing guesses concerning the cognitive capacities of the listeners.

Velina, - Thank you. I certainly agree that "ignorance of the fact that [historically] we represent a small part of an entire world" is markedly on the increase, and this has definitely happened largely in the comparatively RECENT past. I am now 80, and definitely grew up with a strong awareness of history. I was taught a great deal about it at school, and, studying English, also at university, where the emphasis on the history of both the language and the literature of Britain was very strong (I add that most of my education, including at university, took place in the Netherlands, where history has always been a strong suit, but in Britain too the emphasis was historical). When I became a lecturer in English in New Zealand in 1966 I was happy to see that the approach to the subject of "English" was very historical there. In Australia, where I started in 1976 it was less marked, but still central. In recent years, however, the past has received markedly less attention, and there is a strong - and to my mind self-indulgent - preoccupation with the PRESENT (not even recent history). Inasmuch as "old" texts get read, they are often seen as documents proving that e.g. every male writer in the Renaissance (the area I have done most of my work in) was automatically "sexist", this though in general e.g. Shakespeare's most admirable characters are women. The preoccupation with the idea of "patriarchy" as the dominant feature of Renaissance drama has come to be quite obsessive. So: EVERYTHING is coming to be viewed and very much judged from a blinkered and onesided modern perspective.

Joost, thank you for this comment, your conclusions are very, very similar to my own.

I don't know why history, in the broad sense that suggests who are we in general, is not mentalized. History has been well thought at school here too, the world's history, not only the national or the Balkanic. When discarding the trials to present the recent history from an ideological perspective (which was obvious), the rest was good enough. Languages are well thought, many, as well as the domain of the world's literature, with reference to the particularities of the respective cultures (I don't think it is possible to do otherwise). But all this seems not being UNDERSTOOD. I also did several continents, for work, I think that this counts... I think there is a role of the media in creating this blindness. I mean - worldwide.

Let me ask one question: What is the statistics on the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 among young people with disabilities, such as Down's syndrome and others? I mean those people who absolutely do not understand anything about the events around COVID-19. I have a feeling that the percentage of healthy people (from COVID-19) among them is much higher (maybe several times higher) than normal people. Why? They do not know and do not understand the word "panic". Everything else is done for them by their immune system.

One of the very good cures for coronavirus is a worsening economy. Surprisingly, there are situations. when the country had not yet reached a plateau from the coronavirus, but already all industrial enterprises received permission to work at that time. when the coronavirx has not yet reached a peak. It was about this fact in Russia that Alexander Lukashenko recalled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXl4gTgGfo

Lukashenko on the coronavirus: rich Russia realized that there could be bad consequences!

Gennady, " What is the statistics on the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 among young people with disabilities, such as Down's syndrome and others? " . You mean, you ask the REAL specialists, don't you?

I think that they do not still have such data. As for the nonspecialists, you are very well retrieving their opinions.

Dear Velina Slavova,

"As for the nonspecialists, you are very well retrieving their opinions."

I want to ask: Why is the media problem with COVID-19 discussed by 1% of virologists and 99% of palitologists? Now even an anecdote was born that for this period "all political scientists have been re-trained as virologists." However, we know that political scientists are far from poor people in comparison with ordinary virologists, at least this is the case in Russia. Doctors who save the lives of patients from coronavirus by risking their lives, their opinion is not heard or heard much less often than the opinion of political scientists from their comfortable apartments via Skype. Maybe it is time to admit that now virologists are the most prestigious profession, because they save people's lives. Maybe the time has come to change the concept of healthcare from the “services sector” to “public policy”. However, the concept of "service sector" is inextricably linked with the liberal idea of ​​capitalism as a means of making money and nothing more.

Why? " 1 % of virologists and 99% of palitologists? "

Really, why!

Gennady, your use of the term "capitalism" is strange. Why do you say this? Well, I suppose you think some other countries and not Russia being capitalistic ones. You have to explain the criteria that lead you to this conclusion, if not it stays a type of old-fashioned ideological claim.

Do you have some statistics on the percentage of politicians in Russia that pronounced themselves on the problem and the percentage of virologists that said what they think? Not on youtobe, please, but officially.

Have you compared this ratio with other countries to say what you said?

" the time has come to change the concept of healthcare from the “services sector” to “public policy” "

Where? Healthcare has been accepted for more than sixty years as one of the main public policies in Europe. It was the same in the former socialist part of Europe, despite it was poorer. If you speak of the USA, then you have to negotiate with Trump... He is even thinking (if one can say this), that he can do both - economy running and epidemy on. Sorry, three things - America first!

I just want to say that we need to examine concepts and theories in relation to their historical development...recognizing the socio-historical dynamics is key

thanks Velina and Joost

Following the Science

Celebrity particle physicist Professor Brian Cox has made some well-deserved criticism of politicians using the “we are following the science” mantra. His point is well made that this could damage the public perception of science in general, especially where the science we are ‘following’ is incomplete at best.

Professor Cox remarks that the often-conflicting messages broadcast by ministers and government officials is being used as a shield where they have no easy answers. It is far easier and of course far more honest to simply say we do not know than send out a message, based on little data that then turns out to be inaccurate or simply wrong. We are following ‘the scientists’ makes it look like the scientists are wrong and they only have to be wrong a couple of times for public trust to be undermined.

What Prof. Cox perhaps could have added is that the press and media are in large part responsible for this mythologizing of ‘the scientists’ as the oracle with all the answers. It is clear from interview after interview that it is often the journalist who pre-empt this somewhat blasé assurance with a question along the lines of “are you listening to the scientists?”

There has long been an uncomfortable interface between the press and science, in large part due to their very different philosophies and ethos. Science is a search for the truth, not the possession of it and those of us who work in a scientific environment know that that search is often long and sometimes disappointing. Scientists do not have all the answers, the science is never, as the press and politicians like to suggest to us ‘settled’.

Having read very many scientific papers over many years this writer can testify to the frequent use of the expression “we are at present unclear about the mechanism” often repeated in them. This means in ordinary speak “we do not fully understand what is happening here”, It is that of course that is the driving force behind all scientific endeavour. The press of course wants answers now, the scientists may still be looking for them.

We have an excellent body of distinguished scientists across all relevant disciplines advising the government and the media. From virologists to epidemiologists, from pharmacologists to medical physicists we have many distinguished experts and of course we should listen to experts, whatever Michael Gove once may have told us but we need to understand the dynamic here. Experts know much more than us ordinary folk but they do not know everything.

If we are to follow the science then we should be honest about that very science. The reality is in this case that there is a lot of science yet to be discovered for all we may now know. The pandemic is far from over even if we are now talking about easing the lockdown it will not be over until there is a vaccine and an effective treatment and that they are deployed for use in the community. We do not know when that will be, following the science on that point is not likely to get us very far.

We still do not understand the aetiology of this disease. We know the infectious agent is a coronavirus but there is far more that is unknown about how or why it has such a massive variation of effects from fatality at its worse, though mild respiratory symptoms to possibly no symptoms at all. There is little to follow there yet.

We do not know for sure if this disease will be effectively a one off as many of the pandemics of the recent past have been or whether it will be from now on a seasonal blight with inevitably tragic consequences. Scientists have openly disagreed on its origins and even if we ignore some of the more fanciful notions about it being planted or broadcast by phone masts there is no real consensus on point of origin, aetiology and prognosis or effective pharmaceutical intervention or treatment. Once again not a direction that we can as yet confidently follow.

Science will of course find the answers, it’s only a matter of time and effort and then we will be able to be confidently reassured when our politicians tell us they are ‘following it’. Until then it might not be quite as bad as the blind following the blind but it is certainly the uninformed following the partially sighted with only half of the road map.

So, the path we must follow is a steep learning curve and one with many obstacles yet to be encountered. Of course, our politicians must show effective leadership and of course they must listen to their advisors. They should also, hope springs eternal be honest with us. Saying we are “following the science” is far from honest and as Brian Cox warns us can do damage to the very thing and the very people we are now so reliant upon.

Gennady, you make a strange comment here, at least to my ears:

Doctors who save the lives of patients from coronavirus by risking their lives, their opinion is not heard or heard much less often than the opinion of political scientists from their comfortable apartments via Skype. Maybe it is time to admit that now virologists are the most prestigious profession, because they save people's lives.

Bravissimo Gennady! You figured this out exactly. Now, let me explain something here. A few weeks ago, on BBC World Service, they were interviewing a BBC (I think she was BBC) correspondent in Moscow.

She explained why the situation is as you describe. It is because, Russia (meaning our friend Vlad) cannot condone the public creation of "heroes." The only hero must be Putin and the Kremlin. Therefore, the achievements of the actual heroes are never emphasized to the public. They are kept hidden, so that central authority cannot be undermined.

Maybe the time has come to change the concept of healthcare from the “services sector” to “public policy”. However, the concept of "service sector" is inextricably linked with the liberal idea of ​​capitalism as a means of making money and nothing more.

You can be sure of one thing, Gennady. Capitalism rewards best those who provide the goods and services that the society values most. If you offer skills or knowledge, which society needs very much, and which few people have, you are rewarded. No one in western countries denies the value of doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers. Or the value of other essential service workers. Quite the contrary.

On the other side of the coin, this is definitely true in the US, the contributions of big-mouth politicians are what people tend to dismiss more, in this COVID-19 environment.

Dear Albert Manfredi,

"It is because, Russia (meaning our friend Vlad) cannot condone the public creation of "heroes." The only hero must be Putin and the Kremlin. Therefore, the achievements of the actual heroes are never emphasized to the public. They are kept hidden, so that central authority cannot be undermined."

Well, your phrase forces to answer, because just a few days ago Putin handed the highest state awards (the hero of the labor of the Russian Federation) to five virologist doctors https://rg.ru/2020/06/21/putin-nagradil-piateryh- vrachej-zvaniiami-geroev-truda.html Putin awarded five doctors with the title of Heroes of Labor.

“By his decree, the president awarded this high rank to five doctors: Denis Protsenko, chief physician of the clinic in Kommunarka, Maryana Lysenko, chief physician of the 52nd hospital, Marina Bakholdina, chief physician of the Pokrovsky St. Petersburg hospital, Yulia Garevskaya, chief physician of the Nizhny Novgorod hospital, and the Kaliningrad epidemiology center doctor "Koval. The doctors were awarded with awards for special labor achievements, dedication and high professionalism shown in the fight against coronavirus infection."

It should also be added that a large group of virologists was awarded the "Pirogov" and "Luka Krymsky" medals. All these awards sharply raised the prestige of this profession in Russia. These medals were established just in honor of virologists who saved lives by risking their own lives. I want to note that Putin is neither a "hero of RF" (for military merit), nor a "hero of Labor of RF" (for labor merit).

Yes, Gennady. Did they become heroes because Putin decided that they are?

Все решает золотая рыбка, Велина, как в этом анекдоте.

Новому русскому не хватало рыбы для ухи. Он закинул невод и вытащил золотую рыбку. Она взмолилась, когда поняла, что он хочет бросить ее в уху и обещала ему все, что он захочет. Он стал думать, чего же ему не хватает, вспомнил про соседа, Героя Советского Союза, и сказал рыбке, что он хочет быть Героем Советского Союза. Рыбка сказала слушаюсь и повинуюсь и махнула хвостом. Когда новый русский очнулся, он оказался в окопе со связкой гранат и на него полз немецкий Тигр...

Евгений,

известна крылатая фраза Сталина "Я сделаю из вас героев", которую он произнес в адрес генералов, чтобы заставить их воевать "как надо". Теперь у генералов был выбор: Либо воевать "как надо" с последующим "Героем Советского Союза", либо идти под расстрел. Это было наглядно продемонстрировано в начале войны после расстрела генерала Павлова и его "товарищей" за катастрофу Западного фронта. То же самое касалось при выполнении "приказа 227", известного как "Ни шагу назад", когда родилась фраза "Спереди - смерть возможная от фашистов, а сзади - смерть неизбежная от заградотрядов НКВД".

Итак коротко: Героями не рождаются, а становятся.

Interesting title labour heroes

Alas could not read all as not translated. Putin no need to worry about covid, the media on Trump. Trump national security advisor John Bolton's book claims Xi, Putin, Kim Jong Um were manipulating Trump, because of limited knowledge. He also says trump completely incompetent, unable to define any strategy, and could not disconnect his personal needs, from the needs of the country. And...Trumps ongoing quests for election support/fiddling by other powers..mainly Putin as he likes authoritarian style

Oh joy

Просто оболдеть.

"labour heroes"

Дни и ночи у мартеновских печей

Не смыкала наша Родина очей.

Дни и ночи битву трудную вели,

Этот день мы приближали как могли...

I believe that continuous self-learning, self-reliance, and investing in self-abilities are major reasons for making an individual an expert in his specialization not only in times of crisis but at all times.