Mister Node is a Dutchman. He is 75 and has experienced some things. But also some no-things: no world war, no war, and no economic, social/cultural, infrastructural or political meltdowns. The Netherlands has for the past 75 years remained free from what happened almost everywhere else. At this moment, in week 17 of the global COVID-19 pandemic (and in week 8 of the local Dutch COVID-19 epidemic), the experts are outbidding each other in the media with keleidoscopic views on everything. We might feel content with a prudent government that is open towards considering scientific results in its political considerations. But nobody knows whether and how and for how long the objections of our thoroughly spoilt culture will allow themselves to be curbed. It is obvious that the economy and especially some economic urban myths will have impact.
One of the few I tend to trust in this arena is J Doyne Farmer, an American engineer who leads a team in Oxford that builds data collections and designs network models to run simulations with, in order to get an idea of what their theories are actually proposing. Here he shows how he is making progress. Recommended.