Daily Post 1273
CORONA – THE APPROACH HEREAFTER
While the battle is right there in the hospitals, communities, towns and cities, the way it is decided and operated, the way choices are made will decide our future. Cyber Security being a global threat being handled locally / nationally has already exposed the chinks in the armour any number of times. The seamless globalised environment both in technology and supply chain, has to be the consistent backdrop of whatever we do. Technology as an enabler needs to be fully exploited for the benefit of the citizens. To achieve their compliance and cooperation, ”People need to trust science, to trust public authorities, and to trust the media,” says Yuval Noah Harari.
Technology has been used in the war against Corona. The new surveillance tools have been used notably by China. Monitoring smartphones, using face recognition, ”obliging people to check & report their medical condition,” facilitated not only quick identification of suspected coronavirus carriers but also track their movements. The next step was to identify anyone who they came in contact with. Interestingly, a range of mobile apps could warn the citizens of their proximity to the infected persons.
These are surveillance technologies and mark a transition from ”over the skin” to ”under the skin” technologies; click on a smartphone to temperature of your finger and blood pressure under the skin. These social experiments don’t die with the emergency but can continue under different garbs for governmental and business surveillance. This data should on the contrary help individuals in normal times to make informed choices and also hold the government accountable for its decisions.
Yuval Noah Harari talks of the need of a global plan. The choice is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Whatever might be the country, the corona virus remains the same. China could teach US a few valuable lessons. A doctor’s discovery in Milan in the morning can save lives in Tehran in the evening. UK’s hesitant steps could have been sorted by Korean experience of the same dilemma a month back. ”Global trust and cooperation is a must,” he says. This war may need to ”humanise,” production lines. Precious equipment can flow wherever required and so is the case with the medical personnel. Reinventing the wheel in a serious health crisis can have killer consequences.
A GLOBAL CHALLENGE NEEDS A COORDINATED GLOBAL RESPONSE.