What was the fundamental, systemic mistake made by Western societies that explains the virus disaster?

I just can’t see that it was the lack of redundancies and fragility a la Taleb. After all, we now know that large stockpiles of masks and ventilators would not have much changed the outcome

Open borders? No, unless your idea is not to let any foreigner in. Global supply chains? Again, no. Austerity? No, those countries that went through austerity did better because they reacted earlier

None of this was really important, alas

Was it Trump? No, you have Macron in France who could not be more different from Trump and outcome very similar. Was it capitalism? Well, that one I can’t even understand.

Was it teacting late? Well, obviously, that’s a tautology. But why did they react late? And what would it mean to react early? Impose a lockdown a month earlier? Okay, but what was the problem with our political systems that did not allow for that?

Questions, questions

But the answer is simple: lack of knowledge. A deep crisis of knowledge at all levels. Knowledge of history, knowledge of China, technological and scientific knowledge