The Moral Pitfalls of Color-Coded Coronavirus Warning Systems
As states re-open, risk is frequently presented in a four-tiered color-coded chart. That chart doesn't present meaningful data or allow us to understand risk: it's a false sense of security.
Hydroxychloroquine and the Ethical Pitfalls of Private Science
The retraction of three papers on treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine reflect a crisis in the scientific community: how to handle data from private companies. What reforms are necessary to avoid such data-based scandals in the future?
Pandemic Beliefs and Lost Causes
Speaking only to one's faithful followers is not an effective strategy for solving collective action problems, but it takes a good deal of courage to not give up.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race; or, How Not To Confuse...
The virtue of patience is being replaced by expediency. But what marks the appropriate time to sidestep procedure?
The Quandary of Contact Tracing Tech
Different governments' contact tracing strategies raise important questions about public health and personal privacy.
The Small but Unsettling Voice of the Expert Skeptic
When even our experts disagree how can we locate the proper balance between skepticism, agnosticism, and justified belief?
COVID-19 to Climate Change: Who Can Act?
The concerted effort required to overcome our current predicament is a proving ground for the battle that still awaits us.
Conspiracy Theories and Emotions in the Time of Coronavirus
We need to rethink our relation to the news; the common ways we acquire and share information is tapping into some of our worst impulses.
Stories of Vulnerability: COVID-19 in Slaughterhouses
The current crisis has provided a new context to evaluate our relationship to meat and the machinery that produces it. Can we justify the cost of this "vital" labor?
Novak Djokovic and the Expectations of Celebrity
Do the responsibilities of celebrity extend to keeping some of their opinions to themselves? Must they play by a different set of rules than the general public?