In a thought experiment of historian Yuval Noah Harari, a hypothetical government insists that every citizen should wear a biometric bracelet. This device monitors body temperature and heart-rate, 24 hours a day. The big data hoarded this way is analysed by stringent government algorithms that will know you are sick even before you know it; they will know where you have been and who you have met. Such a regimen could plausibly stop an epidemic like COVID-19 in its tracks. But if you can monitor all my biometrics, then you can also learn what makes me laugh and cry, and what makes me red-hot angry. It is crucial to recognise that anger, joy, boredom and love are all biological phenomena just like cough and fever. A technology that can identify coughs could also identify laughs. If corporates and governments start harvesting our biometric data en masse, they can get to know us far better than we know ourselves. And they can then not only predict our feelings and inclinations but also manipulate them, and sell us anything they want — be it a product or a politician.
SNEAK PEEK
1. Not engineered
By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, researchers can firmly conclude that SARS-CoV-2 originated just through natural processes. Who concluded that “any speculation about deliberate genetic engineering” can be ruled out?
1. Microbiologist Kristian Andersen (Scripps Research)
2. Fleeing no good
Travel may be unavoidable for students kicked out of schools or people coming home from abroad, but fleeing from COVID-19 isn’t good. About 20%-50% of people with COVID-19 may show no symptom at all, while 80% may have only mild signs. Who reported this?
2. Texas A&M University epidemiologist Rebecca S.B. Fischer
3. Stable for long
They linger for a long while, to be sure. SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is detectable for up to 3 hours in aerosols, up to 4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2 to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel. Who noted it?
3. Neeltje van Doremalen (NIAID, Bethesda)
4. The more they know…
Both the Zika virus and the coronavirus are shrouded in uncertainty. Now, how do people seek and process information when they are in a mess of uncertainty? The more people think they knew, the more they realise they don’t know enough. Who observed it in a survey?
4. Austin Hubner (Affiliation: Ohio State University)
5. In clinical recovery
It can be shown that COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, in an otherwise healthy person. All the same, a robust immune response in the human body, across different cell types, is associated with clinical recovery. Who found this to be “similar to what we see in influenza”?
5. Katherine Kedzierska (University of Melbourne)
6. What about tears?
We are informed that, typically, coronavirus spreads through mucus and droplets expelled by coughing or sneezing, Well, what about other bodily fluids? It is unlikely that infected patients are shedding virus through their tears, says an interesting study. Who led the study?
6. Ivan Seah (National University Hospital, Singapore)
7. Anosmia, dysgeusia
Anosmia (complete loss of smell) is already associated with viruses. “Significant numbers” of COVID-19 patients have experienced it as one of the symptoms. Who came across both loss of smell and loss of taste (dysgeusia) in 70% of COVID-19 patients tested recently?
7. Dr. Hendrik Streeck, (University of Bonn)
8. Hanging around
Coronavirus may be present in the body for at least two more weeks after the symptoms have disappeared. Viruses that tend to hang around in people’s systems also tend to be “the viruses that the body develops a strong immunity response against”. Who said that?
8. Epidemiologist Krys Johnson (Temple University)
9. And experts say …
Don’t put your fingers near your eyes or the mouth … How could we stop touching the face? It looks like an evolutionary legacy. Who noticed that, during a lecture, medical students (of all people!) touched their face 23 times per hour on average (once every 2.5 minutes)?
9. Kwok YL and team (Source: Pubmed)
[ANSWERS]
1.Microbiologist Kristian Andersen (Scripps Research)
2. Texas A&M University epidemiologist Rebecca S.B. Fischer
3. Neeltje van Doremalen (NIAID, Bethesda)
4.Austin Hubner (Affiliation: Ohio State University)
5. Katherine Kedzierska (University of Melbourne)
6. Ivan Seah (National University Hospital, Singapore)
7. Dr. Hendrik Streeck, (University of Bonn)
8.Epidemiologist Krys Johnson (Temple University)
9. Kwok YL and team (Source: Pubmed)
QUIZ No. 947
1. Who connected Monty Python’s “silly walks” to procedures in academic research?
– Kathleen M. Carley
– E.E. Butler & N.J. Dominy
– Zygmunt Bauman
1. E.E. Butler & N.J. Dominy
2. Baboon mothers living in the wild carry dead infants for up to 10 days. Who found it?
– Dr Alecia Carter
– Clarence Ray Carpenter
– Sherwood Washburn
2. Dr Alecia Carter
3. Who observed that “I could kill you” can lead at least a few people to actual crime?
– Dr Matt DeLisi
– George Alexander Kelly
– Stephen M. Kosslyn
3. Dr Matt DeLisi
4. Who insisted that “no man shall occupy a position that a woman can fill” in a slogan?
– Edith Anna Ellis
– Millicent Preston-Stanley
– Shirley Chisholm
4. Edith Anna Ellis
5. Who said that he is so “red” (communist) that he made Russian “reds” look yellow?
– George W. Christians
– William Graham Sumner
– Herbert David Croly
5. George W. Christians