In this episode of Stuck@Om, I chat with my friend Paul Kedrosky, an investor, blogger and a deep thinker. He was very quick to recognize the potential threat and ramifications of the coronavirus as news was emerging about the strange flu in Wuhan. 1
In our conversation, Paul notes that he’s pretty happy with the way he’s constructed his reality. He jokingly states he’s been preparing for self-quarantine for the last decade. This is his time to shine. Aside from missing coffee and sushi, he’s enjoying being at home with his wife and children.
When our conversation takes a deeper turn, we chat about how the implicit assumptions on which we base our lives are changing — we are more fragile than we ever imagined.
Paul’s been studying the Black Plague and realized that the diaries of that time could’ve been written yesterday in a blog post. The way we deal with global pandemics was the same in the 1600s as it is now—a diet of social distancing and isolation.
Paul and I cover a wide range of topics, from how the airlines are more concerned about their bottom-line than spreading viruses to the information we choose to consume. We talk about the potential creation of new vaccine technologies and his optimistic view of the financial picture on the other side of this pandemic financially. Listen to this episode for some light-hearted banter coupled with deeper explorations into the state of our world.
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Outline of This Episode
- How Paul Kedrosky has naturally prepared for self-quarantine
- Is the pandemic exposing who we really are?
- The implicit assumptions our lives are based on
- How the Black Plague compares to the Coronavirus pandemic
- How airlines care little about the consequences of their actions
- Convincing the population to care before it’s far too late
- Understanding what our information diet should consist of
- Humans overestimate their importance in the grand scheme of things
- How Paul thinks we will emerge from this pandemic
- The emergence of new vaccine technologies
- Paul’s optimism about the impact on the economy
Resources & People Mentioned
Connect with Paul Kedrosky
- Paul’s website
- Paul’s Twitter (on sabbatical)
- Paul on LinkedIn
- SK Ventures
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Photo by Claus Grünstäudl on Unsplash