Calls for defunding the police have been gaining traction, with certain counties and areas in the United States already contemplating measures to that end.

How exactly did the police become so militarized?

Reagan and the 1033 program

With the pretext of fighting the war on drugs, Reagan was inaugurated and oversaw the passing of several legislations that beefed up the relationship between the police and the military, and subsequent administrations further oversaw the expansion of these programs. In 1990, the 1033 program was developed, giving the military the passage to provide police departments with excess military equipment for free. This led to police acquiring military grade weapons, tanks, armories and logistics, to better fight drug related crimes. 

However, by the 21^st century, the response of the police against petty crimes and peaceful protests have become increasingly violent. The Black Lives Matter, a controversial movement borne out of the disproportionate use of police violence against the black community, has frequently raised awareness on the issue of police brutality.

Defund the police

Calls for defunding the police have been echoed frequently in last decade; the George Floyd protest only exacerbated that call. Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement and other similar movements have raised concerns about the disproportionate funding that police departments receive, far more than other programs such as homeless services, housing, and health programs.

Activists and public supporters are demanding authorities to re-evaluate allocation of funds towards the police and redirect a part of it to other programs, in order to establish a proportionally funded public programs system.

Although in certain cases, the military grade weapons have come in handy when tackling heavily armed criminals; however, they are largely isolated incidents. More often than not, police units have been overly armed, and this has caused them to become more violent in handling peaceful protests and low-level crimes that simply do not demand as much equipment. 

Source 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

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The roles of the WHO include:

• Universal health coverage
• Coordinate responses to health emergency
• Promote health and wellbeing

It has played an influential leading role in health achievements, such as eradicating smallpox, vaccinating against polio, developing an Ebola vaccine. It successfully oversaw the outbreak of SARS, Ebola and other diseases. It currently focuses on diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other non-transmissible diseases such as cancer and heart diseases. Its functions are largely “normative” says Kelley Lee, research chair in global health governance at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Meaning, it is primarily an advisory body, “providing guidelines and technical advice, collecting data, statistics, and so on.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO found itself under intense scrutiny by some member states, especially by the Trump administration; for failing to do its job in containing the novel coronavirus and acting as a “lapdog” for the Chinese.

Role of the WHO in the COVID-19 pandemic

As the novel coronavirus made its way to every side of the globe, the WHO was responsible in notifying the world of the emergence of an infectious disease with pandemic potential and coordinating a global response by providing technical and guidance support to member states in order to contain the virus. Moreover, it coordinates in the development of a vaccine, in order to better contain the spread of the virus.

Who’s at fault? How is the WHO being criticized?

The WHO was criticized harshly for being too slow to warn the world of the virus, declaring it a pandemic on March 11, 2020; several months after it was warned by Taiwan of the emergence of a disease in Wuhan; the alert went largely ignored by the WHO. Another criticism of the WHO was that it was too generous of its praise for China; despite a near unanimous assumption that China is covering up the true extent of the virus and did not cooperate in the initial stages when it was most crucial. Lawrence Gostin, an American professor who has spent 30 years with the World Health Organization, laments WHO’s incapability to act swiftly, in part because the organization cannot enter without an invitation by the country, which in this case China was blocking; holding China at fault. Lawrence, however, admits that the WHO should have stood up at least.

The Taiwan debacle

A growing number of leaders have been scrutinizing the WHO’s dealing of the pandemic. One thorn has been the email Taiwan sent on December 31, warning the WHO of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. This topic became divisive as critics, including US president Donald Trump, accuse the WHO of ignoring Taiwan’s warning, a claim which the Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denies. This has sparked a blame game between the organization and members states over who is at fault for letting the disease spiral out of control. The WHO has defended itself, saying Taiwan did not mention the human to human transmission aspect of the virus and that it was not the first country to send a warning, opposing the claim that it ignored Taiwan’s warning. It is worth mentioning that Taiwan is not a member of the UN, thus is omitted from the WHO; the result of vehement Chinese opposition to its membership.

How Powerful is the WHO? Not much

The WHO does not hold an independent authority and it depends on the cooperation of its member states. “WHO doesn’t have any resources to be the action on the ground” says Kelley Lee. People have placed a false expectation that “‘WHO should do this, WHO should do that.’ Well, WHO is the member states. So if you want WHO to do something, then the member-states have to get together and say, ‘Do this.’”

Professor Lawrence Gostin calls for empowering the organization, providing it a political backing. “I can tell you episode after episode after episode, where countries around the world literally just ignored WHO, ignored scientific evidence, whether from Ebola to SARS to H1N1 to Zika and now with the coronavirus.” he says. Furthermore, he scolds the international community for underfunding the organization, working on a budget similarly sized to a single large US hospital. “The world has the WHO that it deserves because it gives it very little funding the size of one US hospital, it gives it no political backing” demonstrating the entanglement of the WHO in geopolitical power play by major countries, widely undermining the efforts of the organization. ‘The world had enough time to intervene’ Director-General of the WHO Tedros defended the organization.

Who is to blame for letting the novel coronavirus spiral out of control?

Source 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

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Is it possible to predict future pandemic?

Large initiatives underway

75% of newly emerged diseases that affect humans are of Zoonotic origin, transmitting between animals and humans. In order to better prepare ourselves and possibly predict the outbreak of viruses with pandemic capability, large initiatives and projects were created for that purpose.

The Emerging Pandemic Threats program includes four projects: PREDICT, RESPOND, IDENTIFY, and PREVENT, was being funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), until Donald Trump cut off funds in 2019. Over the span of 8 years, the PREDICT project has discovered nearly 1000 viruses. The Global Virome Project, proposed in 2016; it plans on discovering nearly all the viruses that could infect humans; however, it is still a concept.

The Answer is… Nearly Impossible

According to Jemma Geoghegan and Edward Holmes, two virologists based on Sydney, efforts to predict or prevent pandemics will not succeed. Simply, the number of existing viruses is too many to accurately calculate the odds of predicting and preventing pandemics. Approximately 4400 viruses have been discovered, a meager number considering the millions of viruses yet to be identified. It is estimated that 500,000 undiscovered viruses have the capability to transmit to people.

“We’re only just coming to terms with the vastness of the virosphere.” Says Geoghegan.

There are millions of variables to take into account in each level of the viral contraction that could create an infectious disease, the environment, the animal host, and the virus itself.

According to Kristian Andersen, from the Scripps Research Institute, predicting pandemics “is simply impossible… What you’re trying to predict is likely something that happens maybe once out of tens of billions of encounters, with one virus out of millions of potential viruses. You will lose your fight against the numbers.”

There’s hope…

Despite the shortcomings, technological advancements have made is much easier for us to create a vaccine in record time. We shouldn’t be quick to dispel efforts in predicting pandemics; Jonna Mazer the global director for PREDICT argues that if we held the same complaints in weather forecasting 100 years ago “we wouldn’t have created the data that lets us forecast the weather, which we can do pretty well now.” Although it’s still impossible to predict the occurrence of pandemics, effort should be focused on detecting it early on. Kristian Andersen suggests detecting the first cluster of cases. Instead of actively trying to prevent pandemics from occurring, we need to develop a more effective and rapid framework in containing the spread of a disease. One company – Kinsa – is working on a smart fever detecting device capable of measuring fever fluctuations and collecting data, which is sent to the company for analyzing and mapping out the anomalies that would arise in contrast to the regular fever inducing infectious seasons. This will greatly help authorities detect hotspots and promptly take measures in detecting and containing a viral infection before it makes its way to a wider landscape.

Source 1 – 2 – 3

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A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a divisive measure that entails a guaranteed minimum income for each citizen by a government. It is also known as a citizen’s income, or simply basic income. A government would entitle each citizen to an income, minimum enough to cover the basic cost of living, whether they are employed or not.

The idea was proposed to address the jobs lost due to technological advancements and automation; however, in time of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent job losses in the millions, the strategy has been gaining steam as an alternate measure to the financial packages earmarked for mitigating the economic and social impact. Moreover, it is proposed as a better alternative to the welfare system and its many failures, such as the infamous “Poverty Trap”.

Funding

A social policy of this magnitude requires significant funding; different approaches have been proposed to cover the cost of UBI.

For one, scrapping and completely eliminating the welfare system already in place would free up $1 trillion to be directed towards funding UBI in the United States. Additionally, in a world where income and social inequality is on the rise and the gap between rich and poor continue to widen, the prospects of taxing the rich “1%” of society seems reasonable enough to redistribute the funds by providing basic income for everyone, and tackling inequality by narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and maintaining social cohesion.

Yanis Varoufakis, a Greek economist and former finance minister of Greece, has proposed the idea of a “Universal Basic Dividend”, directing a percentage of all shares from all companies to a public equity trust and distributing the dividends equally for all members of society as producers of “social capital”.

How does it help the people?

• Social Safety Net: Income to lean back on in times of crisis or job loss
• More time to find better jobs: Allow people to dedicate more time to search for jobs they enjoy doing.
• Care for a relative in need: Take time off from work to care for a sick relative or babysit without losing income.
• Pursue education: Opportunity to pursue or continue further education.
• Less stress: Fear of being financially insecure mitigated.
• Increased Productivity: Lower stress and continued education increases productivity and valuable skills respectively.

How does it help the socio – economics?

Is it feasible?

The feasibility of applying a universal basic income is complex for a number of political, economic and financial reasons, depending on the variety of different countries that exist.

UBI would be more accepting in traditionally socialist countries, while opposition in capitalist or neoliberal nations would be more pronounced and difficult to apply due to lobbying by the “1%” who might be taxed.

Moreover, we have to take into account the financial and economic capabilities of different nations; countries with weak and low GDPs and a high debt burden would see it difficult to apply such a scheme.

Although small scale pilot program has been implemented regarding UBI; this scheme has yet to be applied on a wider scale. Meaning, despite the valuable data derived from the different pilot programs applied, it has never been fully tested on a whole nation; thus any discussion regarding the successful implementation of a program of this magnitude are largely theoretical.

Universal Basic Income is a highly complex and ambitious social program that has recently gained awareness as a potential solution to those affected by the job losses due to pandemic. However, it still remains a divisive program with many hurdles and unanswered questions. Nonetheless, it is an idea worth investing in.

Source 1 – 2 – 3

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Defining this generation has divided researchers, they haven’t been able to provide consensus on what its characteristics exactly are and whether it exists or should exist. The “C” stands for creation, curation, connection, and community; a major point being that they are constantly connected online. In the “psychographic” definition, it’s the shared state of mind by members of the generation.

Generation ‘C’onnected?

It’s not about the age, but the shared interests linking members of this generation.

Members of Generation C share a similar trait of being digitally literate, and instinctively connect to the internet; It’s not bound by age, but how integrated they are with technology. Meaning, a 15-year-old and a 95-year-old can both be part of this generation as people who are exceptionally ‘Tech Savvy’; constantly sharing data and staying connected with everyone and everything. According to studies done by Google/IPSOS/NowWhat and others:

• 90% create content for the net at least monthly
• 83% have posted a picture online
• 76% visit YouTube weekly
• 59% look to the internet as their main source of entertainment
• 56% have followed through after watching ads on YouTube
• 55% are connected to 100 or more people through social media

How has the coronavirus shifted our reliance for online platforms?

As the majority of countries enacted lockdown measures, the internet saw a massive boost as billions of people stuck at home, found ways to work and entertain themselves online. According to US web-infrastructure company Cloudflare, internet usage for the first 3 months of 2020 has seen an increase by 25% in major cities. Additionally, online service sites recorded a spike in demand as many people work, play, and order online much more frequently, as a result of “stay at home” measures. The video conferencing software Zoom saw a boom as more people made use of its service in “the first two months of 2020 than in all of 2019”. Gaming service Steam also recorded an increase of 25% compared to February, logging in more than 24 million players at one point. Moreover, other popular sites like Facebook, Netflix and YouTube have seen an increase of 27%, 16% and 15.3% for website traffic.

Work after COVID-19

The result of being locked at home compelled companies and businesses to adopt the “work from home” culture, in order to keep work flowing without substantial interruption. According to a graph published by J. Clement, the “Interest in remote working related search terms during COVID-19 outbreak March 2020” using google search stats;the number of people expressing interest in working from home or accessories that facilitate remote working, have seen an increase from a score of 50 to 100 from February 23 to March 20 for the search “Remote Working”, and an even more significant increase for “Work from home” from a score of 17 to 89 by the same period of time. Moreover, many companies have expressed interest in keeping part of their workforce completing their jobs at home, indicating a probable shift to more sophisticated “remote working” programs as demand for it increases. In light of these measures, we can theoretically say that the majority of people conforming to the idea of working from home are members of Generation C.

A boon for Generation C

Although the lockdown generally wasn’t received with any enthusiasm, we can only imagine that the Generation C might have been able to adapt faster than others in going online because of how connected and digitally native they already are. They would not have as much problems in making use of the internet and online services to make their lockdown more tolerable, from online shopping to working from home using different software; they can manage themselves better than others in completing tasks, work, buying online and connecting with others related to social life and work . Moreover, the lockdown also compelled people to learn more about different online services and manage some of their responsibilities through using them.

Did the COVID-19 lockdown boost the credential for finally defining Generation C?

Source 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

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In a broad sense, corruption is the dishonesty and fraud in a system of governance, that causes negative implications for the whole community.

“Corruption affects us all”

It affects a society in many different ways. It undermines trust for the system and public sector, wastes taxpayers’ money, and affects the quality of services provided for by a government. This means that, when corruption is allowed to thrive, the roads we drive on begin to crumble, healthcare becomes weaker, social benefits start to dry up, as funding for the maintenance of these services are wasted.

Specifically, the poor class bears the brunt for corruption the most, as they rely on public services the most; they will have to rely on subpar services or may even be deprived access completely, putting their livelihoods under pressure.

Rising authoritarianism

For the past decade, an increasing number of countries have been backtracking on their democratic credentials. Nations from Latin America to Asia have seen leaders rise to authority and accumulate power by undermining oversight and judicial institutions designed to keep power in check. According to Sarah Repucci, writing for the “Freedom House” organization; she wrote a stark warning that “Democracy and pluralism are under assault”.

For the 14^th consecutive year since Freedom House began records, democracy is declining as more and more leaders seek to consolidate power and root out dissent and opposition. This trend has also witnessed an increase in Europe as countries such as Hungary and Poland adopt policies undermining the democratic institutions at home. According to the ‘Nations in Transit’ report by the Freedom House, Hungary and Poland have seen a dramatic decline in the past decade. In 2010 Poland and Hungary ranked 5.68 and 5.61 respectively, placing them among the ‘consolidated democracy’ category; however, by 2020, that number has declined for Poland to 4.93 ranking as a semi-consolidated democracy; meanwhile, Hungary has seen a more stark decline to 3.96, placing it as a hybrid regime, a far cry from the democratic placing it had a decade earlier; therefore, consolidating authoritarian tendencies right in the heartland of what is arguably the most democratic continent.

Authoritarianism and burgeoning corruption: Do they correlate?

Both authoritarianism and corruption are seeing an increase lately, which begs the questions:

Are they related to one another?      

Some of the hallmarks for authoritarianism are major breeding grounds for corruption to manifest itself and thrive; these are:

• Lack of transparency: Authoritarian governments tend to be less transparent and more manipulative of public information. It is increasingly becoming difficult to access information about public policy and management that might be deemed suspicious or corrupt.

• Cronyism: Authoritarian leaders and parties usually provide government contracts to partners or family members, in return for political loyalty and privileges. This comes at the expense of fair competition and quality service for the public. Providing poor services as quality is not prioritized.

• Intolerance for dissent: Opposition and dissenting views are not openly tolerated and silenced through abuse of power and judicial intervention. Greatly harming public trust and undermining accountability towards the political elite.

• Media control: Complementing the intolerance for dissent, having control over the media is an effective tool to manipulate public perception by monitoring what’s reported and shown on the media. Preventing negative press and opposition views to make its way to the public.

The core subject matter that tie these points together is “accountability”, or lack thereof. The lack of political, judicial and popular accountability paves the way for undemocratic policies and corruption to gradually take hold and thrive.

Effects of corruption

Corruption has broken the lives of countless of people and weakened nations immensely; one example is Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country in West Asia, in the midst of a crippling financial and economic collapse. Seeing its potential and resources deplete by its political elites left the country without stable electricity, constant water shortages, heavy pollution and crumbling infrastructure.

Around US $1.26 trillion per year – a number greater than some major economies – is lost in developing countries as a result of corrupt tactics and measures such as bribery, and tax evasion, also known as ‘Illicit Financial Flows’. 1.6 billion people living less than $1.25 a day could be lifted up from poverty for up to six years with that amount of money. Moreover, according to the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, corruption in EU countries cost the bloc around €120 billion euros of lost money across its member states.

Similar stories have occurred in different developing countries, as the youth begin to rise up against authoritarianism and corruption, showcasing the younger generations’ understanding and awareness of holding their government accountable, in order to prevent abuse of power. Turning a blind eye to thriving corruption is a huge blow on the economic and political credentials of a nations and causes grave consequences on the health and prosperity of the population.

Source 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

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5G explained

5G is the 5th generation wireless mobile connection; it is designed to connect everything and everyone via a network of communication, in unprecedented speed and capacity. 5G network will enable development of next-generation mobile services, that deliver and transfer information in higher, more reliable speeds, with lower latency; expanding nearly every sector of an economy and industry to new and interesting realms. One drawback, however, would be the shorter range of 5G; this will require building a completely new infrastructure, and installing hundreds, if not thousands of small cell sites on buildings, walls and poles to keep up a seamless experience, costing billions of dollars worth of investments.

4G vs 5G: How is the new generation of mobile connection better?

Faster speeds & higher capacity

The fifth generation of mobile connection (5G), will increase speeds up to 10 Gbps, hundredfold (100x) more than 4G LTE. Moreover, 5G will be able to handle up to (1000x) more capacity than 4G, lowering the risk of network congestion in crowded areas.

Lower latency

5G will substantially decrease the latency compared to 4G, transmitting data in less than five milliseconds. “Latency measures how long a signal takes to go from its source to its receiver, and then back again.”

Increased bandwidth

Significant increase in speed and capacity will potentially allow the transfer of large data much faster and efficiently. “Bandwidths are a range of frequencies that transmit a signal, usually within a given band.”

Era of automation: The Internet of Things (IoT)

Despite the massive increase in speed, reliability, and capacity for the average consumer, this alone is not a good reason to justify the billions of dollars that would go into building the 5G infrastructure. The “Internet of Things (IoT)” is a networks of interconnected devices that share and transfer data without needing the interference of humans; some of the well-known services include self-driving cars and smart homes, which can be quite data hungry. Implementation of 5G networks will provide the best opportunity for the “Internet of Things (IoT)” to flourish. With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, coupled with machine learning and 5G network; this will make it possible for automated technologies like self-driving cars, smart homes, digitized health care, and more to seamlessly connect and communicate with each other, to provide far more interconnected, efficient and accurate automated services; thus, lead the world to an (AI) revolution. Possibly bringing to life the tech gadgets and machines that we usually see in sci-fi shows and movies.

Effects on global economy

According to Qualcomm, an American tech company which conducted the “5G Economy” study; it revealed the sheer impact 5G would have on the world economy at an optimal potential, which would likely be achieved around 2035. The numbers are staggering:

• $13.2 Trillion dollars of global economic output
• 22.3 Million new jobs created
• $2.1 Trillion dollars in GDP growth

As a result of massive increase in efficiency and speed of access to information, businesses and the world economy will see substantial growth of economic output, upwards of $13.2 Trillion dollars.

22.3 Million new jobs created

Practical benefits: How will the average person benefit?

The average person with a mobile phone and online services will see a massive boost in internet speeds; downloading Quad HD movies in mere seconds; lag free multiplayer cloud gaming, instant access to cloud-based services, no network congestion in highly crowded areas such as a stadium, seamless streaming and high-resolution video playback, and much more.

5G will benefit many aspects of daily life; it will provide us with new technological innovations and industry, make transportation safer and more comfortable, widen the scope of health services, digital precision, and countless more; affecting the way people live, go to work, play and entertain themselves. Moreover, the development of a more accurate and versatile artificial intelligence and advanced technological innovations seem ever more possible to create, as a result of unprecedented connectivity that we will witness as the fifth generation of network connection begins to expand and roll out around the world.

The average person with a mobile phone and online services will see a massive boost in internet speeds

Source 1 – 2 – 3

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What are ‘recession shapes’?

They are graphical representation used by economists; often taking the shape and form of letters, most commonly ‘V, U, W and L’; to describe the different types of economic recession/recovery.

• V shaped: Economic recession followed by equally sharp recovery.
• U shaped: Economic recession followed by gradual recovery.
• W shaped: Double dip. Initial recovery after recession; but effects weigh in, plunging growth back down.
• L shaped: Economic recession without recovery.

COVID-19 recession; what would it look like?

Although the world has been through different pandemics throughout modern history, what differentiates the COVID-19 pandemic is the sheer effect it is having on the world economy. Gross domestic product figures saw its worst decline for 1st quarter of 2020 since WWII, stirring debate on what shape would economic recovery take on a graph.

“It is an abrupt stop of economic activity, from 100 to zero in just a few days or weeks,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING Research; rendering predictions of economic outlook difficult; also varying between different countries depending on their responses.

Best case scenario: V shaped.

Recession would be brief and severe because of the sudden lockdown; but after a few months, as a result of fiscal and monetary support, and easing of restrictions; growth plunge is followed by an equally sharp recovery.

Most likely scenario: U shaped.

Economic recovery will be more gradual and slower; as long as the threat of COVID-19 looms large, it will be impossible for countries to completely ease lockdown measures, thus preventing the economy from rebounding quickly and sharply.

Possible scenario: W shaped.

After easing lockdown measures, the economy rebounds. However, in the case of an absence of good and efficient national health response, a second wave of COVID-19 infection would demand another strict lockdown, plunging growth again for a second time.

Worst case scenario: L shaped.

A complete lack of government action; without rigorous and effective economic and health policies, the outlook for growth would take the shape of an L, meaning there will be no economic recovery after the pandemic.

Past experiences:

Looking back at previous pandemics and recessions, economic growth had taken the V shaped pattern in “six of the past seven recessions”. Moreover, during the SARS outbreak in 2003, which spread to far less countries and disappeared far quicker than COVID-19, growth recovery also took the form of a V shape. In 2020, COVID-19 is posing a much greater and difficult challenge on the economies of the world, with different responses by countries, some more successful than others; which poses the question…

What shape will the economic recovery of the world take?

Source 1 – 2

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The COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt changed many of the norms in our daily lives; this sudden change can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. Countries around the world were placed under strict lockdown, and the feeling of being imprisoned at home has caused depression, stress, and anxiety levels to escalate to higher levels.

Understanding stress

Stress is stimulated by our brains in times of distress and negative emotions; and the sudden imposition of quarantine, as a result of the pandemic, triggered many of the underlying emotions that cause stress. According to the Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, when a person is going through stress, the brain releases a chemical called “cortisol”, which raises the heart rate, modulates adrenaline levels and clouds our thinking; it also affects the “hippocampus”, which is the part of the brain where all our memories are stored, this causes people to be less productive in work.

The effects of quarantine

When countries around the world began enacting strict national lockdowns; the change came as a sudden shock for the lives of millions around the world. Inevitably, this sudden shift is expressed in negative emotions like fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and boredom; all of which trigger or are triggered by stress. According to an article posted by TIME magazine titled “The Coronavirus Pandemic May Be Causing an Anxiety Pandemic”, it states a study done by the National Institute of Mental Health, that over (19%) of American adults will face an anxiety disorder in a 12-month period. (Kluger, 2020) During such turbulent times, mental health often becomes a silent victim; the fear of socio-economic consequences of the lockdown, such as unemployment and poverty, does not help as well and only compounds the effects. Moreover, those already suffering from a mental illness might see their insecurities get triggered by these negative emotions. According to a survey published by the BBC in an article titled “Coronavirus: Money worries in pandemic drive surge in anxiety”; the findings show that in Britain, more than 25 million people (49.6%) showed higher anxiety levels than the previous year 2019.

in Britain, more than 25 million people (49.6%) showed higher anxiety levels than the previous year 2019.

Coping with stress

The media has a strong effect on our mental health since all the news that it’s currently covering is negative, sparking feelings of fear and worry. In order to cope with the anxiety, we should decrease the amount of time that we spend reading negative news and instead, use this free time on self-development, exercising more often, and maintaining a healthy diet and sleep, in order to balance our “endorphins” and decrease the “cortisol” in our body. All these mental and emotional outbreaks have caused psychotherapy service users such as “Better Help” or “Talk Space” to increase up to (65%) since February. (Kluger 2020)

Anthony Robbins in his book “Awaken The Giant Within”, writes that life is (80%) psychology and (20%) skill; which means that the thoughts that we think and the beliefs that we hold within us throughout the day determine the paths and outcomes in our lives; whether they are positive or negative, it all depends on the quality of our mindset and how we take care of it. Some of the strategies to overcome feelings of anxiety and stress is to practice mindful technics and yoga. In his book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, Robin S. Sharma states that if we want to overcome the problems that are holding us down, we should be aware of the fact that everything in life is created twice: first in the mind then in reality; this helps us realize that instead of focusing on everything that’s going negative in our current state, we should focus on the good because there always is something good to be grateful for no matter how bad things may seem.

We should decrease the amount of time that we spend reading negative news and instead, use this free time on self-development.

Author: Jack Jizmejian

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Apple and Google: an unlikely cooperation

Apple and Google are two of the largest tech companies in the world; their operating systems, iOS and Android represent around 98% of the global market share. The rival companies are joining together in an ambitious yet controversial project; to develop a contact tracing system designed to identify and send notices to users who have come into contact with a person diagnosed with Covid-19.

The rival companies are joining together in an ambitious yet controversial project

Automated contact tracing

The system being developed by Apple and Google will register log by your smartphone every time you come into contact with other people. When one of the people you had come into close contact tests positive for Covid-19 and reports it to public health authorities, you would be notified by receiving an alert through your phone. This will all be done automatically and anonymously.

Bluetooth LE – How it works?

The contact tracing system will be using a radio technology called Bluetooth Low Energy (LE). It emits shorter bursts of connectivity instead of constantly transmitting connection as the standard Bluetooth does, thus draining much less battery. Using this technology, your phone will be exchanging incognito keys with nearby devices, maintaining them in a collected list that remains in your phone. When a person you came into close contact with, reports positive for the virus through a contact tracing app, the keys collected by their phone will be uploaded to a server that will notify the owners who recently exchanged keys with the infected person, including you. The alert will keep the infected persons identity anonymous, while sharing information on what do to next to everyone who came near that person.

Privacy and Security

Apple and Google clarified that the contact tracing app will require consent in order to participate, without collecting personal information nor revealing the identity of the infected person. The question of whether both companies will leave the contact tracing system within their operating system began to circulate, as it can be potentially used for government surveillance or for commercial reasons. In response, both companies vowed to turn off this system once the virus threat subsides and the pandemic ends.

The cooperation between competing companies to develop a software in cooperation with public health authorities represent one of the most progressive public-private partnership. On paper, the idea sounds good, but it remains to be seen how effective it would be in practice.

Source 1 – 2 – 3

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