Contradictheory: When it comes to Covid-19, the heart often overrules the head

A customer queuing up to pay for 16 bags of rice in a supermarket in Singapore recently. The Covid-19 outbreak might not be bad enough for panic buying but it’s difficult to blame people for letting their heart rule their head when it comes to their loved ones. — The Straits Times/ANN

Every year, I look forward to attending the EmTech conference in Singapore. It showcases cutting-edge technologies and ideas from around the world. More importantly, you get to hear the people involved speak with so much passion about what they do. I still remember in 2018 when Shana Diez, director of build reliability at SpaceX, spoke so eloquently about what it meant to her to send a human being to Mars that I almost jumped up, raised my hand and shouted, “Send me!"

Of course, my head overruled my heart and I’m still Earthbound but I still look forward every year to getting carried away by these (sometimes not so) fantastical flights of fancy. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when the organisers announced that this year's event has been delayed by six months.