I think it’s an interesting paper. In general, we are moving toward a world where people can use data to know things about you before you know them about yourself.
I warn people, we are in a world where Google/FB may know you have cancer before you do. People say, that’s great! Then they can tell me. And I reply, but what if, even unbeknownst to Google, the highest bidder for this information is your employer, who may lay you off, your creditors, who will stop extending you credit, and your private medical insurers, who will try to dump you (or may even pay for ads to foist you onto their competitors).
What I take away from the paper is that the US federal government probably had more data on what was happening in China before China did, and even now, probably have novel data about what happened when that even China does not know, and they had extraordinary advance warning, but they ignored the warnings from security and health experts, because they are that self-destructive, that hostile to facts and expertise, and that incompetent.
I warn people, we are in a world where Google/FB may know you have cancer before you do. People say, that’s great! Then they can tell me. And I reply, but what if, even unbeknownst to Google, the highest bidder for this information is your employer, who may lay you off, your creditors, who will stop extending you credit, and your private medical insurers, who will try to dump you (or may even pay for ads to foist you onto their competitors).
What I take away from the paper is that the US federal government probably had more data on what was happening in China before China did, and even now, probably have novel data about what happened when that even China does not know, and they had extraordinary advance warning, but they ignored the warnings from security and health experts, because they are that self-destructive, that hostile to facts and expertise, and that incompetent.