According to the UN 25k people die from starvation everyday:
https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/losing-25000-hunger-every-day
Around 40% are children. This is a shocking statistic. Just as a side, imagine if each day this stat was splashed up on your TV screen!
According to the UN "COVID related hunger could kill more people than virus":
Of course the UN blames the deaths on COVID but it is in reality the lockdowns that will be responsible. From the link above:
David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, warned in June. “We could see 300,000 die a day, for several months, if we don’t handle this right.”
This is a 12 fold increase on the 25k per day prior to the lockdowns. A sad statistic indeed.
Another UN article states 130 million more people would face chronic hunger by the end of 2020:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1068261
We've seen lots of models for deaths from the virus. Has anyone done any modelling for deaths from lockdowns?
Classic trolley problem:
1. There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:
Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.
Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.
Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?
Trolley problem modified to reflect lockdown (pulling lever) before doing a cost benefit analysis of collateral damage, basically what the general population have been led to believe was the situation we were in:
2. There is a runaway trolley (covid-19) barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever (lockdown). If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:
Do nothing (don't lockdown) and allow the trolley to kill the five people (let the virus "rip") on the main track.
Pull the lever (lockdown), diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person (collateral damage from lockdown).
Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?
Still a tricky dilemma ... intervening to sacrifice one innocent person who wasn't in the path of the trolley to save five who were ... Hmmm
Trolley problem modified to reflect lockdown (pulling lever) after doing a cost benefit analysis of collateral damage. This seems to reflect the situation we were actually in (factoring in only your example), with the government deciding to pull the lever:
3. There is a runaway trolley (covid-19) barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, is one person tried up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever (lockdown). If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there are twelve people on the side track. You have two options:
Do nothing (don't lockdown) and allow the trolley to kill the one person (let the virus "rip") on the main track.
Pull the lever (lockdown), diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill twelve people (collateral damage from lockdown).
Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?
As time goes on, eventually everyone will realise the ethical dilemma we were in all along was no 3. And then they'll realise there was no dilemma what so ever. It's obvious pulling the lever in scenario no 3. would be a monstrous thing to do ... annnnd that is in fact what the government has done, and continues to do.
Hachibunga...glad you put the point across for Lockdown Sceptics..the name of the site we are on..
A good post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmelro48v4Y&feature=youtu.be
This is an excellent video. Who is that guy?
