The worst thing about Covid 19 to me is how it selects against old people, and even worse: Friendly, sociable old people.
There has never been an economy like the latter, and it's a tragic failure of human imagination to believe that it isn't possible.
Sure, there are genuine inefficiencies like the laryngeal nerve but there also are plenty of apparently useless things that turn out to have some niche importance such as the appendix.
But we don't usually think about it that way. Most people who advocate for a planned economy don't want that kind of planning; they think it's bad to innovate in things like how jobs are structured, bad have a single large company in charge of most of your shipping, and bad that Jeff Bezos can build such a good company that his stake in it is worth billions. Planned economy advocates that I see generally want the economy to work how they specifically would prefer, without much regard for whether other people think that's the best way.
There are some kin effects if elderly are killed, but natural selection otherwise doesn’t apply much for the elderly.
balding men on the other hand, not confidence inspiring.
That's cherry-picking IMO. It also selects against people with chronic diseases, high blood pressure, unhealthy habits like smoking and against people with poor hygiene.
Otherwise fine.
But that is, in fact, natural selection, isn't it?
Natural selection ≠ selection for traits that benefit society.
But still unproven then, because it's a hypothesis and not a theory...
Natural selection may be “natural”. But nature is unbelievably cruel.
By the time you get to a complex human culture, everything is about second and third order effects.
We're here debating whether or not it's Darwinian that Covid-19 disproportionately affects old people, while the second and third order effects are a recession (if we're lucky and clever) and a depression (if we're neither).
Given where we are as a species right now, both of those will have a much bigger impact on long-term human viability than any immediate deaths.
Seems that e.g., Buddhists regularly practicing month-long meditation retreats or Christians practicing 40-day contemplations might see a protective effect selecting them in, tho such practices may reduce reproduction rates, so what is the net balance?
Not judging this, just pointing it out.
Eg. Italy is at 72%, Spain at 49%, USA at 69%, France at 30% on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Importance_of_religion_by_coun...
I would consider them countries where social gatherings are the norm, and I always related that to climate, rather than religion.
You think Covid 19 would be better if it selected against young people?
For whatever it's worth, if Covid-19 killed more young people, it might have been taken more seriously earlier.
Two ways for Covid 19 to not have that characteristic:
1) It doesn't select against anyone, meaning it doesn't kill people.
2) It doesn't select against old people, meaning it's less selective, meaning (keeping the same mortality rate) it kills less old and more younger people.