Hacker News - Ask HN: What have you gotten wrong?

[Neo 13]

Seeing Cunningham's Law on the front page, I'm curious: What are some of your past views that you now disagree with?

These could be personal, technological, or otherwise. I'll start:

When news of COVID-19 first broke from China in early 2020, I recall downplaying the severity of the virus to a friend. I wiseacrely remarked that the media erroneously referred to it as the COVID-19 virus, not SARS-CoV-2. Even after he shared his Chinese family members' experiences with the illness, I wasn't convinced.

It wasn't until it came to America that I paid closer attention. Reading the reports of the toll it took on our healthcare system, I took it more seriously as quickly as the virus was spreading. Regardless of the debate over death attribution and symptomatic severity, I never anticipated the pandemic to be in the top 10 deadliest epidemics by death count.

I think exceptionalism and ignorance played important roles in my initial take: "It's just like ebola, SARS, or H1N1. If it comes to the US, our superior infrastructure will render the virus a mere nuisance!"

P.S. Here's an incorrect technological prediction from a friend who had studied aerospace and ocean engineering: "SpaceX could never land a rocket on a moving ocean platform!"

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30550901

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