No worries. I agree we need a swift kick in the ass. And I appreciated the joint repair story. Healthcare is one of the few topics that bridge political divides.
On November 11, 2019 7:31:39 PM PST, Eric Smith <desm...@santafe.edu> wrote: >Very very sorry Glen > >You said “as a people”. > >There was no need for my reply. > >E > > >> On Nov 12, 2019, at 10:04 AM, Eric Smith <desm...@santafe.edu> wrote: >> Not “as people”. As Americans. Important, I think, to acknowledge >how malleable this is, and the role of culture (including >institutions). >> >> Live by the train systems in Japan for a while, and you are smacked >in the face by the broken culture that Americans seem to believe is an >irredeemable human condition. Come back to a city like Atlanta, and >the impulse to blame that “you people aren’t even trying” is all but >irresistable. A transition back to New York is still somewhat harsh, >but not to the same degree. >> >> The same can be said, for that matter, of cost control in the medical >system. A person to whom I am connected had a ligament-replacement >surgery done to reconstruct a joint, with a week in-hospital (because >the Japanese hate to take unnecessary risks of anything), by a >specialst who has trained and worked for decades in both Japan and the >UK, and the most-caring hospital staff. It cost me 1000 dollars, and >about 1/3 had been covered by national insurance. I think in the US, >without coverage (which is the relevant situation in this case), a >similar quality of treatment would have cost me more than my whole >after-tax income for half a year. >> >> If those are the stress-testing cases, think of what the difference >can be in behavior on the street, and in other ordinary interactions. >> >> American culture needs a hard kick in the ass, and an admonition to >grow up, because we no longer have the slack to live like this and >survive it. There are plenty of American people who are not the >sources of that broken culture, and they already get kicked too much, >so I don’t mean that. But the view that, while there are problems that >will remain to afflict people under any case, still so much better an >effort _can_ be made. >> >> I constantly think of the saying “You know the ship's only in trouble >if the sailors stop swearing”. Probably literally not true, but makes >a point. I wonder what it would look like if Americans woke up to >realize that the ship is in trouble. -- glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove