I agree with Damien Klassen here:
I object to the term black swan … for me a black swan is something that is not only unlikely, but [is an event] you never even thought could possibly happen, whereas this has been an event for weeks now … I think it’s an event that has been pretty well telegraphed …
Damien Klassen, Macrobusiness
Indeed Bill Gates has been warning about a pandemic for years (as I think I heard on TWiT 760 though can’t find a transcript to confirm, perhaps they can look into the BBC’s react-transcript-editor as demonstrated by James Dooley at ReactConfAU).
That minor caveat stated, when (via Vox), Sequoia makes a statement like this, one cannot help but take notice:
Having weathered every business downturn for nearly fifty years, we’ve learned an important lesson — nobody ever regrets making fast and decisive adjustments to changing circumstances. In downturns, revenue and cash levels always fall faster than expenses. In some ways, business mirrors biology. As Darwin surmised, those who survive “are not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the most adaptable to change.”
Sequoia Capital
In any case, I’m glad I didn’t buy a house or car and cancelled my Netflix subscription, leaving me with plenty of capital and time, and far freer to consider the pursuit of genuinely inspiring opportunities to do the most good in God’s world, whether they be in employment, study or otherwise, wherever or however they may arise. It’ll be interesting to see how God’s world continues to change.
Peter Johannes Schmidt 