Leaderboard

Good TedX talk. Nothing wrong with changing one's mind, one's opinions, if more information comes along that causes another look at one's thinking. I'm thinking of Copernicus, Galileo (piggybacked onto Copernicus's theory) (= the Earth revolved round the sun, not the sun round Earth): Martin Luther (how the church had got "grace" all wrong); Einstein (theory of relativity; couldn't reconcile old paradigms); and there are many others. St Paul, if you like. Our world, our lives as we now know them, would be radically different if these men had not been able to change their minds. Do you know "plate tectonics" as an idea has only been accepted since mid- to late 1960s? But who would argue with that now? (And yet, that theory may still be wrong, but we won't know till more evidence comes to light). What about medical advances? Who these days would want to tie a dead mouse to their cheek to alleviate toothache? And who would want a surgeon who did not wash hands before operations? Okay, we're not all geniuses, and we may never come up with amazing new ideas like any of these. But being willing to accept we were wrong - could change our families, our communities.

Another reason why the AZ vaccine may (apparently) be more effective in the UK is that most Brits have been compliant in masking up. There's a lot of peer pressure. It was sweet to see little kids in supermarkets following Mum and Dad's example and insisting in wearing their own masks, even thought they weren't required to (and yes, I asked some of the mums and dads about it). Not to mention lockdowns, reduced travel on public transport, not going into busy offices, etc. Outcomes are probably a bit of everything.

There was no paywall blocking me. Apparently, the shareholders decided to share.