The Core Principles of Team Reality: Or, The Principles of a Comprehensive Perspective to #COVID19

The present ideological divide is likely best stated as follows:

Team Reality - A comprehensive perspective

Team Apocalypse - A narrow perspective

2/ What is a comprehensive perspective?

-A comprehensive perspective acknowledges that Covid is a risk, but also that it is one of MANY risks to consider. It acknowledges that targeted, low cost mitigation can make sense. It also seeks to *balance* risks.

3/ -A comprehensive perspective acknowledges that humans do not have infinite lifespans and that time spent disrupting normal life carries enormous cost for everyone alive (hundreds of millions of years lost in the US if we pause life for just one year). https://mobile.twitter.com/AskeladdenTX/status/1305948905817944064

4/ -A comprehensive perspective acknowledges that life is far more than a sanitized existence removed from risk. It does not view human existence only through the lens of infectious diseases. It acknowledges that we are more than mere viral vectors.

5/ -A comprehensive perspective values and acknowledges individual agency, liberties, and risk tolerance. It appreciates that humans are complex beings capable of making decisions for themselves and their families.

6/ -A comprehensive perspective acknowledges and accepts robust global data and patterns. It uses this information to *contextualize* and better quantify risk from Covid and other risks in order to better inform decisions. It embraces proportionality.

7/ -A comprehensive perspective understands that Covid is the latest pathogen in a long history of pathogens that have infected humans. It does not view Covid as “alien” or so remarkably exceptional that it exists outside the natural order.

8/ -A comprehensive perspective appreciates human nature and our species’ tendency to commit cognitive errors when under stress/duress. It makes accommodations for the possibility that human nature exposes us to extreme swings in emotion-driven behavior.

9/ -A comprehensive perspective weighs risks and rewards, views the world as complex and intertwined, and appreciates that our actions have consequences and global ramifications.

10/ -A comprehensive perspective has a deep and abiding appreciation for human psychological health. It appreciates that life is far more than bodily wellness and that happiness is not just a frivolous luxury, but a state of mental well-being.

11/ In closing, this is a non-exhaustive list of principles this humble observer believes best encompass why Team Reality rejects the narrow notion that the mitigation of Covid is the *only priority* and that normal life cannot return until eradication.

N.B. I encourage people to share their thoughts and to recommend additional principles.