I was paddling with my 3 year old daughter by the shore while my 9 year old was playing with his cousin futher up the beach (and in front of the lifeguard station).
My father-in-law (late 60's) wanted to join the two 9 year olds who had swam a short distance to a sandbar, and were in knee depth water.
The old man got into difficulty, I dropped my daughter back with the family and asked my wife to have a look at her old man.
She said he was fine, he's been swimming here for years.
I recognised the pattern of short quick breaths and short quick movements. Each small wave was sapping energy from him.
I ran to help and reached him quickly. People nearby had recognised the danger but were too afraid of stepping out of their depth to help a stranger. Ultimately, nobody on the crowded beach was prepared to take any risk to themselves to help (which I can understand).
On arrival, I realised I did not know what to do. I held him above the water for a few seconds, which meant submerging myself for the same duration. He was now a dead-weight, who had lost all control. I repeated this twice more, until I felt there was a risk to my own safety.
I swam/dragged/paddled/crawled with one arm the short (12 meters) to shore. I was close to becoming exhausted myself.
Later that night over a bbq, the family asked why he simply did not turn around. The time between tiring, and panicking/exhausting he said was too short, and he was so close to reaching the sandbar.
My wife did not believe he had been in danger until that chat over the bbq.
He is alive today because one member of the family recognise the signs of drowning. Being inclose proximity to the lifeguard station which was manned, had no bearing on the outcome.
Amish or Luddite? No.
Underinvestment in technology? Yes.
Poor bureaucratic response? More yes.
The US is leading in eCommerce with FAANGs. With this trade comes very valuable data mining and 'Surveilance Capitalism' where intimate user behaviours and trends are translated into further competitive advantage.
When you look at the FAANGs. The US gets all the upside (as well as some of the downsides), but the EU gets only downsides. e.g. Amazon will hollow out retail and logistics, as well as computing infrastructure, the economic efficiencies are returned to the US as well as the rich user data.
The EU is struggling to respond in a contructive way. It really needs to create a few tech hubs, and promote new ventures.
Instead, its doing what the EU does best. Kicking the can down the street, and adding bureaucracy to appear to be doing something.