Usually when a war like scenario arises there are 3 key parameters which decide the fate of victory:
There have many books written and many studies conducted from history & experiences which define how to fight a war with the right orientation in mind, but what happens when the enemy is invisible & comes in without any warning, maybe you are getting where I am going with this.
How do we fight a pandemic?
Earth currently has humans as the most intelligent species but from a complexity standpoint - we are level 1 species on the range scale of 1 & 5, where level 5 species can control their sun, atmosphere & to some extent drive their solar functions autonomously.
Focus is currently on how do we move to a higher level, let's start with identification & adaptation & this situation above is a great example to begin with.
Pandemics usually have one feature which is very basic to their definition, they are widespread, the speed and pace with which they advance is usually quite fast. The cost of their spread varies depending on the kind of damage they can cause, which changes the models of how to prevent them completely or adapt to the the ripple they create which stays in motion for some time before everything can restore back to normal. What makes a life form complex is the speed by which they can identify, track, emulate, strategise & take actions to prevent the event to shape into a pandemic & if it happens, take actions to adapt & minimise the effect of the same. Level 2 - life forms might be able to completely replicate environments which can be used to contain & continue life without any obstructions but there is some time before this can happen.
So the question is - how can we leverage technology to fight a pandemic, how can we counter a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome, which has a capability of 2.5x of contagion & an exponential spread capacity with 40% more case scenario with a day of delay, so time is of crucial essence here.
The good thing about technology is that it is connected & present everywhere, which makes it to be utilised as a very powerful tool if used in the right context to combat the contagion accurately.
1) Minimising the impact - Giving tools to the mob to make sure they are working to a collective goal of minimising the spread. Apart from the human practising the social distancing approach, if their commonly used technical equipments are positioned to provide them with options of scheduling to limit the number of people in a place, this would work towards minimising the contagion. More apps built to work collectively & OS properties to notify a person to wait before they can approach an area would highly minimise the spread (thinking out of the box here is very crucial).
2) Traceability - The best place to track course of the enemy is to track the source of enemy carrier and what other means then the electronic equipment like a handheld or mobile used by the person. Voila - Internet of things - wasn't that supposed to be one of the useful tools we can apply here?
How many people get infected is directly proportional to the location where the person was and how many other device were close to that location (probable targets).
3) Enhanced reporting - The other aspect to this is reporting, not just on the number of the people infected or recovered but the kind of mechanisms which are being the cause of the spread, how do we delay or stop those mechanisms to cause further damage. At the end of this - there is always a cost, and sometimes - the hidden economic cost at a later point of time is bigger than the cost of preventing the spread from speeding right now. Again, time is of essence, applying learning and modelling to evaluate the position of an area and taking proactive measures for containment & gathering data which confirms those measures are working is important.
Although, the situation might be appearing difficult as of now but the most important thing to remember is - we are all in this together and with the right tools & approach we will not only overcome this but also will be able to learn from this to position ourselves as a more evolved life form for any future global catastrophe or crises.
- Strategy
- Tools
- Timing
There have many books written and many studies conducted from history & experiences which define how to fight a war with the right orientation in mind, but what happens when the enemy is invisible & comes in without any warning, maybe you are getting where I am going with this.
How do we fight a pandemic?
Earth currently has humans as the most intelligent species but from a complexity standpoint - we are level 1 species on the range scale of 1 & 5, where level 5 species can control their sun, atmosphere & to some extent drive their solar functions autonomously.
Focus is currently on how do we move to a higher level, let's start with identification & adaptation & this situation above is a great example to begin with.
Pandemics usually have one feature which is very basic to their definition, they are widespread, the speed and pace with which they advance is usually quite fast. The cost of their spread varies depending on the kind of damage they can cause, which changes the models of how to prevent them completely or adapt to the the ripple they create which stays in motion for some time before everything can restore back to normal. What makes a life form complex is the speed by which they can identify, track, emulate, strategise & take actions to prevent the event to shape into a pandemic & if it happens, take actions to adapt & minimise the effect of the same. Level 2 - life forms might be able to completely replicate environments which can be used to contain & continue life without any obstructions but there is some time before this can happen.
So the question is - how can we leverage technology to fight a pandemic, how can we counter a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome, which has a capability of 2.5x of contagion & an exponential spread capacity with 40% more case scenario with a day of delay, so time is of crucial essence here.
The good thing about technology is that it is connected & present everywhere, which makes it to be utilised as a very powerful tool if used in the right context to combat the contagion accurately.
1) Minimising the impact - Giving tools to the mob to make sure they are working to a collective goal of minimising the spread. Apart from the human practising the social distancing approach, if their commonly used technical equipments are positioned to provide them with options of scheduling to limit the number of people in a place, this would work towards minimising the contagion. More apps built to work collectively & OS properties to notify a person to wait before they can approach an area would highly minimise the spread (thinking out of the box here is very crucial).
2) Traceability - The best place to track course of the enemy is to track the source of enemy carrier and what other means then the electronic equipment like a handheld or mobile used by the person. Voila - Internet of things - wasn't that supposed to be one of the useful tools we can apply here?
How many people get infected is directly proportional to the location where the person was and how many other device were close to that location (probable targets).
3) Enhanced reporting - The other aspect to this is reporting, not just on the number of the people infected or recovered but the kind of mechanisms which are being the cause of the spread, how do we delay or stop those mechanisms to cause further damage. At the end of this - there is always a cost, and sometimes - the hidden economic cost at a later point of time is bigger than the cost of preventing the spread from speeding right now. Again, time is of essence, applying learning and modelling to evaluate the position of an area and taking proactive measures for containment & gathering data which confirms those measures are working is important.
Although, the situation might be appearing difficult as of now but the most important thing to remember is - we are all in this together and with the right tools & approach we will not only overcome this but also will be able to learn from this to position ourselves as a more evolved life form for any future global catastrophe or crises.
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