12/04/2020
Day 19
Some observations on the world as it appears right now –
- Wuhan has exited the lockdown. Factories, workplaces and people are gradually getting back to their pre-covid lives. The wet market in the city from where the coronavirus is said to have introduced into human beings will remain shut.
- US has the world’s highest number of deaths due to Covid -19. There were over 21,000 deaths until yesterday. Overconfidence tends to be costly.
- In India there have been 300 deaths. The mayhem of the first few days of lockdown has settled giving way to a variety of better designed but intense responses by the state governments. Maharashtra is fighting hard to contain the spread, especially in Mumbai.
- In this pandemic, there is an extraordinary level of data tracking and archiving going on. It will probably turn out to be the best recorded global crisis with high resolution, multi-dimensional data. I am thinking of the kind of doctoral dissertations that will be written on it. Besides, some early papers on limited contexts and situations are already out.
- US economy continues to get major attention and not their miles long queues of cars which were seen waiting to get a carton of food donated by a charity. The paradoxes in our world are delightful in a dark way.
- The final push of technology into the human soul seems nearly complete – citizens will be living by contact-tracing mobile apps as seen in Wuhan and India’s own ‘aarogyasetu’ app, contactless workflows will lead to enhanced use of remote monitoring and more importantly surveillance tech will get better and even more intrusive. The back office of the world continues to function.
While we sit speculating about the extension of lockdown in the state, there was never an opportune moment as this to work on abandoned projects and new skills.
With this, it makes nineteen consecutive days of posting on Contested Realities. It is way above an average year’s posting.
Contested Realities 