The coronavirus catastrophe that we are experiencing is first of all the result of an ecological catastrophe, but its underlying fundamental cause is the political crisis that our democracies are living. The sustainable development model is a smokescreen that will lead not to making deepgoing changes to the economic paradigm but to continuing with business as usual. The betrayal of the elites, both political and economic, supported by a system that is no longer democratic, has exposed the population to (...) this type of sanitary problem. A deep transformation of our political system is urgently needed. The people must take part in a true democracy, a direct democracy, that initiates a new democratic revolution capable of countering the sinister interests of the elites, of the caste in power. (shrink)

لا أحبذ عادةً نظرية المؤامرة في معالجة أية ظاهرة طارئة أو حدث مؤثر، لكن الحُجج التي تسوقها النظرية فيما يتعلق بجائحة كورونا جديرة بالقراءة المتأنية والتأمل والنقاش، أو على الأقل جديرة بالمعرفة، لاسيما وأن من يتبناها كتابٌ كبار مثل البريطانيين «ديفيد آيك»، و«فيرنون كولمان» (الأول له أكثر من عشرين كتابًا في نظريات التلاعب بالعقول، والثاني له أكثر من مائة كتاب في الصحة العامة والسياسة وحقوق الحيوان). مؤدي النظرية باختصار أن فيروس كورونا جزءٌ من خطة تحويها أجندة سياسية – اقتصادية دولية (...) خفية، وأنه مجرد حلقة من حلقات سابقة وتالية من الفيروسات المُخلَّقة معمليًا (ذات السلالات المُوجهة المختلفة) لتحقيق أهداف معينة عن طريق بث الرعب في نفوس الناس. فما هي هذه الأهداف؟ وما دلائلها؟ ولماذا تُبالغ الحكومات ووسائل الإعلام في بث الرُعب والفزع منذ اللحظة الأولى لظهور فيروس كورونا . (shrink)

تأملات فلسفية حول تفشي فيروس كورونا (كوفيد-19) وأبعاده الاجتماعية والسياسية والدينية والعلمية.

في كتابهما المُشترك «الطاعون الأبيض» سنة 1952، وصف عالما الاجتماع «رينيه جول دوبو» وزوجته «جين بورتر دوبو» الأمراض بالديناميات التي قسَّمت عصور التاريخ البشري. ولا غرو، ففي سنة 327 قبل الميلاد أدى مرض الملاريا إلى فشل حملة الإسكندر الأكبر على الهند، ومع هذا الفشل تغير مسار التاريخ في المجتمعات الشرقية والغربية؛ وفي سنة 541 م عمل طاعون جستنيان (وهو وباء طاعون دملي) على تقويض أسس الإمبراطورية البيزنطية؛ كذلك ساهم طاعون مُسلم بن قتيبة (وهو اسم أول من مات به) سنة 748 (...) م في إسقاط الخلافة الأموية وقيام دولة العباسيين؛ وأدى الطاعون الأسود في القرن الرابع عشر إلى تغيير مسار التاريخ الأوربي بقضائه على ما يقرب من ثلث سُكان القارة! وتأتي جائحة فيروس كورونا (كوفيد 19) الآن لتُذكرنا مرة أخرى بالتأثيرات الضخمة التي يمكن أن تُحدثها الأمراض على مسيرة الإنسان الحضارية. (shrink)

Rapidly, accurately and easily interpreting generated data is of fundamental concern. Ontologies – structured controlled vocabularies – support interoperability and prevent the development of data silos which undermine interoperability. The Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Foundry serves to ensure ontologies remain interoperable through adherence by its members to core ontology design principles. For example, the Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Core includes terminological content common to investigations of all infectious diseases. Ontologies covering more specific infectious diseases in turn extend from (...) IDOCore, such as the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). The growing list of virus-specific IDO extensions has motivated construction of a reference ontology covering content common to viral infectious disease investigations: the Virus Infectious Disease Ontology (VIDO). Additionally the present pandemic has motivated construction of a more specific extension of CIDO covering terminological contents specific to the pandemic: the COVID-19 Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO-COVID-19). We report here the development of VIDO and IDO-COVID-19. More specifically we examine newly minted terms for each ontology, showcase reuse of terms from existing OBO ontologies, motivate choicepoints for ontological decisions based on research from relevant life sciences, apply ontology terms to explicate viral pathogenesis, and discuss the annotating power of virus ontologies for use in machine-learning projects. (shrink)

L’épidémie de Covid-19 aurait pu y faire des ravages. Pourtant, ce 11 avril, le Vietnam ne comptait que 258 cas déclarés et aucun décès selon l’université américaine Johns Hopkins. Des chiffres observés avec moins de méfiance que ceux du voisin chinois, avec qui il partage 1 280 kilomètres de frontière. Le résultat est surprenant pour ce pays de 96 millions d’habitants, qui ne consacre que peu de moyens à la santé. À Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville, seuls 900 lits d’hôpitaux sont équipés pour les (...) soins intensifs, soit 1 pour près de 9 000 habitants. (shrink)

لا تُخبرني عن الوقت في غرفة مليئة بالساعات! حسنًا، لكن ماذا لو كنت في هذه الغرفة وأنت عاجزٌ عن معرفة الوقت، أو كنت تعرفه لكنك لا تستطيع استثماره؟ تاريخٌ طويل لأخلاقيات البيولوجيا، وأخلاقيات الطب، وأخلاقيات المهنة، أصبح اليوم على المحك؛ آلاف المؤتمرات واللجان والمنشورات بدت وكأنها بلا نفع أو تأثير يُذكر اليوم! ففي خضم الأزمة الدولية الخانقة لفيروس كورونا أدرك كثيرون أن ثمة فرقًا هائلاً بين أن تقوم بالتنظير الأخلاقي وأن تلتمس تطبيقه؛ وأن لأخلاقيات الدول والحروب – أيًا كانت طبيعتها (...) – قواعد ومعايير يصعب مزجها بأخلاقيات الفرد من خلال الأمر: افعل ولا تفعل! الأمر شبيه بأن تأتي بمن يتضور جوعًا وتتلو عليه آداب الحصول على الطعام وتناوله! (shrink)

حتى لو لم يكن لدينا الآن ما نفعله إزاء عالمٍ يُواجه قسرًا تفكيك بنيته الأيديولوجية والاقتصادية، فلا أقل من أن نسعى لفهمه، لعلنا بالفهم نُسهم في إعادة بنائه. قال أحدهم ذات يومٍ: لا عاصم اليوم من طوفان العولمة، فلنكن إذن على ظهر السفينة وإن كنا نجهل وجهتها، وقال آخر: بل هي أكذوبة القوي على الضعيف، تحملنا إلى ساحاتٍ تتماهى فيها الحدود والقوميات والثقافات وفق أنموذجٍ أوحد للتعايش، وهل ثمة ما يدعو للاغتباط أكثر من رؤية البشر وقد خرجوا من كهوف الهوية (...) والتاريخ واللون لينعموا بدفء البنية الحياتية الواحدة والمصير الواحد، حتى ولو هيمن قطبٌ واحد ثقافةً وعلمًا واقتصادًا؟! لكن يبدو أن المصير الواحد بات هلاكًا بمعطيات فيروس كورونا التي استباحت اليوم أهم مُخرجات العولمة: التقارب البشري! (shrink)

زُرت الصين في أوائل ديسمبر الماضي (2019) للمشاركة في مؤتمرٍ علمي، وقضيت بضعة أيام في مقاطعة ووهان قبل أقل من شهرٍ تقريبًا من اندلاع أزمة كورونا. حملت معي (كعادتي في كل رحلة خارج الوطن) دفتر يومياتي لأدون ملاحظاتي عن بلدٍ أزوره لأول مرة، مدفوعًا بشغف المقارنة بين بلدين يجمعهما دفء الاقتصاد وتُفرقهما برودة السياسة؛ الأولى هي الصين بكل ما لها من ثقل تجاري وتاريخٍ قمعي، والثانية هي اليابان (التي زرتها منذ بضعة سنوات لإلقاء محاضرة عامة) بكل ما بها من ارتقاءٍ (...) حضاري وتسامحٍ سياسي وديني! وبعد رحلة سفر طويلة ومُرهقة استقر بي المقام في إحدى غُرف فندق يانيان بوسط مدينة تشانجشا، وكانت أول عبارة دونتها في دفتري ليلة الوصول: «الصين ... الدكتاتورية الأنيقة». (shrink)

Actualmente estamos viviendo una situación de pandemia que está dando pie a diferentes explicaciones. Cabe preguntarse, ¿hay que confiar ciegamente en los expertos o es cierto que el gobierno no es totalmente transparente? Para ello, un análisis Latourniano de las posibles explicaciones de la pandemia puede arrojar una respuesta a nuestras preguntas.

Actualmente estamos viviendo una situación de pandemia que está dando pie a diferentes explicaciones. Cabe preguntarse, ¿hay que confiar ciegamente en los expertos o es cierto que el gobierno no es totalmente transparente? Para ello, un análisis Latourniano de las posibles explicaciones de la pandemia puede arrojar una respuesta a nuestras preguntas.

كان يمشي في الأرض مرحًا، مُصعرًا خده للطبيعة، ومُنتشيًا برفاهيات حضاراته؛ أو يخطو فوق أديمها مهمومًا بضنك العيش، يعتصره ألم البحث عن قوت يومه، قبل أن يُفاجئه الفيروس التاجي ليقلب حياته رأسًا على عقب. إنه الإنسان، ذلك المجهول لنفسه، الجاهل بعلمه، المغرور بعقله، الضعيف بقوته، المتناقض مع ذاته، الفقير بثرواته الضخمة! فجأة باتت تعتمل بداخله مشاعر الحيرة والخوف والقلق، تؤرقه تساؤلات تسخر من عجزه الصارخ عن الإجابة عنها: ما أصل هذا الفيروس؟ هل هو نبتٌ طبيعي أم مؤامرة من بني جلدته؟ (...) ما هو أفضل علاج لمكافحته؟ لماذا يحصد الأرواح غير مًبالٍ؟ وكيف يمكن لكائن متناه في الصغر، غير مرئي، أن يشن حربًا ضد البشر بكل هذه القوة في القرن الحادي والعشرين، ورغم كل ما تحقق من تقدمٍ علمي وطبي مذهل؟ يعجز العلم عن الإجابة، ويعجز الساسة عن التبرير، ويعجز الدعاة عن المواساة، ويعجز العائل عن حماية رعيته، وينكفئ المرء على نفسه باحثًا عن الإجابات في منطقةٍ فكرية مُهملة: الفلسفة! أجل، فتساؤلات الجائحة تُشبه كثيرًا تلك المنطقة الحدودية التي حدثنا عنها الفيلسوف الألماني «كارل ياسبرز»، والتي لا يمكن أن نتجاوزها بالطرقة العلمية والتجريبية، عندها يُواجه المرء خيارين لا ثالث لهما: إما أن يستسلم لأمواج اليأس العاتية، أو يتوضأ من أنهار الحكمة التي تناساها ردحًا طويلاً من الزمن! لا شك أن ثمة نظريات عديدة عن أصل الفيروس: بعضهم يعتقد أنه مُنتج بشري تم تخليقه في المختبرات لاستخدامه كسلاح بيولوجي يُعزز الهيمنة، لكنه فرَّ من مخترعيه فأصابهم، سواء عن غير قصد، أو مع سبق الإصرار والترصد؛ وبعضهم يعتقد أنه مجرد أداة تحصنت بها الطبيعة ضد عبث الإنسان وإفساده اللامنقطع في البر والبحر ... لكن الفيروس في كل الأحوال يتحدانا بقوة، ويكشف لنا بوحشية عن مدى هشاشتنا، سواء كنا أفرادًا أو جماعات، ويدفعنا إلى إعادة تقييم لحظتنا الوجودية: مَن نحن؟ وما مكاننا في الكون؟ وهل ثمة ما يمكن أن يُهدد بقاءنا كنوعٍ في أي وقت؟! لقد أظهر لنا الفيروس مدى أهمية الحياة، ومدى غباء انخراطنا الدائم في الصراع بدلاً من البحث عن سُبلٍ للتفاهم والتعاون! وعندما ينسحب الجميع في معازلهم، سواء أكانت مختبرات ومشافي تموج بأشرس معارك العلم ضد الفيروس، أو منازل تتضخم فيها مخاوف القدرة على اجتياز الجائحة، تتحول معازل الفلاسفة إلى خلايا فكرية تبسط أشرعة المعنى والمغزى والهدف على الجميع. هذا ما نحاول تبيانه في هذا المقال؛ من عزاء الفلسفة للحيارى والقانطين والموجوعين؛ إلى حالة الطبيعة الهوبزية البادية في الأفق وشروط تجاوزها؛ إلى المعضلات الأخلاقية المنبثقة في غيابات التيه الفيروسية الجديدة؛ إلى معنى الوجود والبقاء والهوية؛ إلى العدو المُكتشف والمُنتظَر في عالم كورونا وما بعده: اللامساواة، والعبث بالاستقرار المُناخي! (shrink)

Is Nature teaching us about meditation? The lockdown of people inside their homes forced by the novel Coronavirus gave us a glimpse of what is possible for the restoration of the purity of Nature if humanity stops their ceaseless activity for a length of time. At the level of the individual, one can get a glimpse of what is possible for the restoration of the purity of one’s own inner nature, if one stops all the activities of the mind, (...) speech, and body, which is called meditation. There are instances in our life when we momentarily experience this involuntarily. (shrink)

Current COVID-19 pandemic and previous SARS/MERS outbreaks have caused a series of major crises to global public health. We must integrate the large and exponentially growing amount of heterogeneous coronavirus data to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechanisms, in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs. Ontologies have emerged to play an important role in standard knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. We have initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease (...) Ontology (CIDO). As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is an open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. In this article, the general architecture and the design patterns of the CIDO are introduced, CIDO representation of coronaviruses, phenotypes, anti-coronavirus drugs and medical devices (e.g. ventilators) are illustrated, and an application of CIDO implemented to identify repurposable drug candidates for effective and safe COVID-19 treatment is presented. (shrink)

على مدى سنواتٍ طويلة، شغلتني إشكالية العلاقة بين العلم والسياسة، قراءةً وبحثًا وإشرافًا على أطروحات تُعالج هذه العلاقة وتأثيراتها على الكوكب المُثقل بنا وبما كسبت أيدينا. قد تبدو هذه العلاقة للوهلة الأولى علاقة اعتماد متبادل؛ فالبحوث والكشوف العلمية في حاجةٍ إلى تمويل، والتمويل يأتي من قبل الحكومات، أو من قبل أرباب رؤوس الأموال الذين يُهيمنون على سياسات الدول والحكومات؛ كما أن الدول والحكومات في حاجة إلى البحوث والكشوف العلمية لتنفيذ برامجها التنموية والانتصار لأيديولوجياتها. يُمكننا تمثيل هذه العلاقة بين العلم والسياسة (...) بعلاقة الأعرج والأعمى؛ فالأول مُقيد في تنقلاته بكرسي مُتحرك، فهو في حاجةٍ إلى من يدفعه، والثاني فَقد بصره، فهو في حاجةٍ إلى من يُوجهه، ومن ثم فقد ارتبطا معًا بمصيرٍ واحد، وباتا يعتمدان على بعضهما البعض وإن اختلفت أهدافهما! لكن الأعمى في الحقيقة هو الذي يقود، وقد يصُم أذنيه عن نداءات الأعرج فيهوي به في الظلمات سبعين خريفًا! وهل يُمكن للسياسي حين تغلب عليه أيديولوجيته، وتطغى عليه طموحات التفوق والهيمنة، أن يُدرك تعقيدات القوة التي يمكن للعلم أن يُطلقها من عنانها؟ وهل بإمكانه أن يُوازن دومًا بين هذه القوة وما تتسم به النفس البشرية من ضعف وتناقضٍ وتحول وفقًا لشروط الزمان والمكان؟! تلك هي القضية الكبرى التي تواجه الإنسان منذ منتصف القرن الماضي، وبصفة خاصة منذ أن ألقيت أول قنبلة ذرية على هيروشيما؛ يومها أعلن الفيزيائي الأمريكي «جاكوب روبرت أوبنهايمر» أن العلم قد فقد عذريته، ولم يعد لنا أن نتخيله تلك العذراء الطاهرة الحنون! لكن عالــــم الكيمياء الحيوي النمســــوي «إروين شارجــــــاف» ذهب إلى أبعد من ذلك؛ رأى أن العلم قد فقد عذريته مع بدء مشروع مانهاتن، أول معسكر اعتقال علمي جُمع فيه أكثر العلماء عبقرية من كيميائيين وفيزيائيين تحت حراسة مشددة، وقيل لهم: هيا العبوا واقتلوا. كانوا يعرفون جميعـًا أنهم سيقومون بأكبر عملٍ شيطاني: تفجير الذرة، وأن هذا الاكتشاف سيسُتخدم في أكبر مذبحة في تاريخ البشرية! ومنذ ذلك الحين، بات جليًا أن الحياد العلمي أمرًا يوتوبيًا مُفارقًا للواقع، وأن القدرة على تطهير العقل العلمي من أدرانه الأيديولوجية مسألة عصية على العلماء في عالمٍ تنهشه السياسة وتبتلعه بطون السادة على موائد الأموال، وهو ما تعكسه بوضوح أزمة جائحة كورونا. (shrink)

Eyal et al have recently argued that researchers should consider conducting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) human challenge studies to hasten vaccine development. We have conducted (J. L.) and overseen (L. D.) human challenge studies and agree that they can be useful in developing anti-infective agents. We also agree that adults can autonomously choose to undergo risks with no prospect of direct benefit to themselves. However, we disagree that SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies are ethically appropriate at this time, (...) for 3 reasons: (1) current scientific knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 infection is insufficient to manage risks; (2) autonomous decision making, while necessary, does not override concerns about risk; and (3) undertaking challenge studies now would imperil confidence in the research enterprise, potentially undermining the global response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. (shrink)

Social Media is a new media of information flow gateway that can be accessed by the public, easily and freely. Social Media is an interactive information technology which not only can netizens access information, but they can also make news (information, comments, etc.) and share it on the internet. Easy access to information has caused ideological effects on society. This research aims to examine the ideological effects of the myths about COVID-19 on social media. The data collection was done through (...) observation and distributing questionnaires online on social media. The data sources were from WhatsApp and Coronavirus cases reported online Indonesia. Researchers used Barthes' mythological theory to answer the research objectives. The results of this research indicated that the spread of myths related to COVID-19 by netizens on social media had caused ideological effects on society, for example, the public refused the coronavirus victims to be buried in public burial because of the corpse considered to infect the residents. This research contributes to the media effects theory development, which can be a policy for the government in fighting against Coronavirus, and netizens who use parrhesia on social media which can contain untrue myths. (shrink)

Ontologies, as the term is used in informatics, are structured vocabularies comprised of human- and computer-interpretable terms and relations that represent entities and relationships. Within informatics fields, ontologies play an important role in knowledge and data standardization, representation, integra- tion, sharing and analysis. They have also become a foundation of artificial intelligence (AI) research. In what follows, we outline the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO), which covers multiple areas in the domain of coronavirus diseases, including etiology, transmission, epidemiology, (...) pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. We emphasize CIDO development relevant to COVID-19. (shrink)

Albrecht von Wachters Studie Eine philosophische Untersuchung des Neuen Coronavirus (von Anfang Juni 2020) zufolge kann selbst ein gut informierter Laie erkennen, dass das Neuartige Coronavirus nicht besonders gefährlich ist. Ohne Widerspruch dazu lässt sich behaupten, dass ein Virus, das eine wichtige, sine qua non Bedingung einer weltweiten Krise ist, zurecht als hochgradig gefährlich beurteilt wird. Denn der Neuartige Coronavirus ist nicht nur gefährlich für die Gesundheit, sondern auch für Politik und Wirtschaft, wobei letzteres natürlich maßgeblich von (...) der Beurteilung des ersteren abhängt. Aber auch betreffend der Gefährlichkeit des Virus für ein und dasselbe kann man auf Basis derselben Informationen zu verschiedenen Ergebnissen kommen, und zwar, wenn verschieden Maß genommen wird, und dieses Maß ist der angewandte Gefahrenbegriff. In diesem Aufsatz werde ich argumentieren, dass der Gefahrenbegriff der genannten Studie zu eng ist, um die mit dem Neuartigen Coronavirus verbundenen Gefahren für die menschliche Gesundheit korrekt beurteilen zu können. Menschen mussten schon immer auf der Hut sein und wir verstehen uns ganz gut auf Gefahren im allgemeinen. Von diesem allgemeinen Gefahrenbegriff ausgehend werden einige Binsenweisheiten zur Gefährlichkeit des Neuartigen Coronavirus vorgetragen. (shrink)

Today the world is suffering from coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic illness, and people all around the world stay at home due to its rapid spread. People including students gather information and government instructions through TVs, social media and others around them. Since the classes were canceled in many countries, the novel coronavirus affects students’ interest in coursework. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of TV news, social media and communication with people on interest in coursework, (...) and mediating roles of fear of contamination, depression, and anxiety on these effects. A path analysis was carried out with the data collected from 773 college students. The results showed that interest in coursework was most strongly affected by communication with people. This was due to its direct and indirect effects. Social media and TV News did not directly affect interest in coursework, but indirectly affected. The study also found that among the three mediator variables, the mediator roles of anxiety was bigger than the others. Understanding the findings of this research has become very important to us, especially at a time when face-to-face lessons have been canceled all over the world and transitioned to online education. Specific recommendations for practitioners and limitations for future research were also provided in the study. (shrink)

The study investigated ethical considerations and science diplomacy on coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in Nigeria. The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Nigeria has spread quickly to about 34 states out of the 36 states and over 5000 persons have tested positive as at the time of this research after the first index case of an Italian and there is a projection that in coming days and weeks the number of infected persons and states will increase. The (...) study was guided by two objectives and also adopted the normative ethical theory. The study employed the methods of exposition and critical analysis to explain better the ethical issues and science diplomacy of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Data was sourced from secondary sources such as journal articles, newspaper, books and internet sources. The findings of the study showed that the citizens have some obligations that will aid the containment of the virus and as well as the government. The study also found out that science diplomacy was used, which has led to Nigeria collaborating with China to get medical aids to effectively fight the pandemic. Consequently, the study recommended amongst others that the Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) should adopt and enforce the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreak as a working document in crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged Nigeria and the government should involve more in science diplomacy with other countries so that it will help in the fight against Covid-19 and other diseases that may occur in the future. (shrink)

Reseña del libro: Daniel Loewe (2020), Ética y coronavirus. Santiago de Chile: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

While spreading wide-world, the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 made changes in many social departments of our society on levels we never thought about and messes with all our cultural habits. Thus, we witnessed that the religious denominations took into consideration changes without precedent in their cultic history and thus dogmatic as well concerning the actual threat of Coronavirus. We saw for example the Roman-Catholic Church who suspended all masses here and there[1] at first or banned the crucial gestures in (...) rituals [to suspend the distribution of Holy Communion from the Chalice[2], to distribute the Eucharist preferably into the hands of the faithful, and to avoid the physical contact from a peaceful handshake, to forego ash crosses on forehead, to suspend placing water in holy water fonts at the entrance of churches, that the churchgoers "refrain" from kissing or touching the cross for veneration, or even cancellation of masses]. We witnessed Buddhist temples and Protestant churches around Korea [at first] and beyond that have also suspended religious gatherings, and so on. In my case, the Romanian Orthodox Church did the same thing[3], but in a controversial way, firstly making some recommendations for its believers [e.g. not to kiss public icons in Churches, but their indoor ones, and receive Holy Communion with teaspoons for single-use]; afterward same Church reconsidered these recommendations and withdrew its decision [perhaps at the pressure of civil fundamentalists]. How can we qualify all these measures and, moreover, the withdrawal on behalf of religious believers, as weakness, populism, diligence, assuming the human limits, or...something else? What would be the correct and coherent answer religion should assume in this particular regard, and especially what are the reasons to qualify it in a way or another? (shrink)

The constraints resulting from the current pandemic, in particular the ban on the personal presence of students in the study, give unprecedented scope for the application of distance learning. The question is how this will affect teaching in schools even after the restrictions have disappeared. This text attempts to analyze the benefits and risks of possible further computerization of the study.

A kind of academic inquiry rationally devoted to helping to promote human welfare would give intellectual priority to the tasks of (1) articulating, and improving the articulating of, problems of living, and (2) proposing and critically assessing possible solutions - possible actions, policies, political programmes, ways of living. The pursuit of knowledge and technological know-how would be important but secondary. If such a genuinely rigorous kind of academic inquiry had been in place in our universities at the beginning of the (...) year, many nations would have dealt with Covid-19 far better than they have, and thousands of lives would have been saved. (shrink)

Vietnam, with a geographical proximity and a high volume of trade with China, was the first country to record an outbreak of the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2. While the country was expected to have a high risk of transmission, as of April 4, 2020—in comparison to attempts to contain the disease around the world—responses from Vietnam are being seen as prompt and effective in protecting the interests of (...) its citizens, with 239 confirmed cases and no fatalities. This study analyzes the situation in terms of Vietnam’s policy response, social media and science journalism. A self-made web crawl engine was used to scan and collect official media news related to COVID-19 between the beginning of January and April 4, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 14,952 news items. The findings shed light on how Vietnam—despite being under-resourced—has demonstrated political readiness to combat the emerging pandemic since the earliest days. Timely communication on any developments of the outbreak from the government and the media, combined with up-to-date research on the new virus by the Vietnamese science community, have altogether provided reliable sources of information. By emphasizing the need for immediate and genuine cooperation between government, civil society and private individuals, the case study offers valuable lessons for other nations concerning not only the concurrent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but also the overall responses to a public health crisis. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis ought to serve as a reminder about the costs of failure to consider another long-term risk, climate change. For this reason, it is imperative to consider the merits of policies that may help to limit climate damages. This essay rebuts three common objections to carbon taxes: (1) that they do not change behaviour, (2) that they generate unfair burdens and increase inequality, and (3) that fundamental, systemic change is needed instead of carbon taxes. (...) The responses are (1) that there is both theoretical and empirical reason to think that carbon taxes do change behaviour, with larger taxes changing it to a greater extent; (2) that undistributed carbon taxes are regressive but distributing the tax receipts can alleviate that regressivity (and, in many cases, make the overall effect progressive); and (3) that while small changes for increasing democratic decision-making may be helpful, (fundamental) change takes time and the climate crisis requires urgent action. //// -/- La crise de lamaladie à coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) devrait servir de rappel sur les coûts de la non-prise en compte d’un autre risque à long terme, les changements climatiques. Pour cette raison, il est impératif de considérer lesmérites des politiques susceptibles de contribuer à limiter les changements climatiques. Cet essai réfute trois objections courantes aux taxes sur le carbone : (1) qu’elles ne changent pas les comportements (2) qu’elles génèrent des charges injustes et augmentent les inégalités, et (3) qu’un changement fondamental et systémique est nécessaire au lieu de taxes sur le carbone. Les réponses sont (1) qu’il existe des raisons à la fois théoriques et empiriques de penser que les taxes sur le carbone modifient effectivement les comportements, et que des taxes plus élevées les modifient dans une plus grande mesure; (2) que les taxes sur le carbone non distribuées sont régressives,mais que la distribution des recettes fiscales peut atténuer cette régressivité (et, dans de nombreux cas, rendre l’effet global progressif); et (3) que, bien que de petits changements pour l’amélioration de la prise de décision démocratique peuvent être utiles, un changement (fondamental) prend du temps et la crise climatique exige une action urgente. (shrink)

Es generalmente aceptado que la relación entre la crisis económica actualmente en desarrollo y la pandemia de enfermedad por coronavirus es de tipo causal, esto es, se afirma que la pandemia ha causado la crisis. El objetivo de este trabajo es argumentar que este vı́nculo no cumple con los requisitos para ser definido como una relación de causalidad y se propondrá la noción de relación develadora para dar cuenta de la interacción entre ambos sucesos. El trabajo se desarrolla de (...) la siguiente manera: en primer lugar, se sitúa el problema dentro del campo de la filosofı́a de la economı́a. En segundo lugar, se desarrollan los argumentos para mostrar que la relación entre coronavirus y crisis no es de tipo causal. En tercer lugar, se recurre al concepto de alétheia para construir la noción de relación develadora. Finalmente, se establece que el rol del virus ha sido des-ocultar la incapacidad sistémica del orden mundial para hacer frente a diversas amenazas, incluida la actual pandemia. (shrink)

Drawing on the SAGE minutes and other documents, I consider the wider lessons for norms of scientific advising that can be learned from the UK’s initial response to coronavirus in the period January-March 2020. I highlight three key issues: the normative force of scientific advice, the role of reasonable worst-case scenarios, and the limits of independence and neutrality. A recurring theme is the difference between normal scientific advising and scientific advising in extremis, when a significant fraction of a country’s (...) population face immediate peril and there is no adequate pre-existing plan for managing the risk. Through reflection on these issues, I formulate seven proposals for effective scientific advising in extremis. In an epilogue, I consider what the implications of these proposals would have been for the UK’s response to the “second wave” of late 2020. (shrink)

In December 2019 an infectious coronavirus disease, commonly known as COVID-19, was identified in Wuhan, China. The disease spread rapidly and became a global pandemic. New Zealand’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed on 28 February 2020, after which the number of cases began to rise significantly, prompting the New Zealand Government to introduce a nationwide lockdown on 25 March 2020. This factsheet reports early findings from a quantitative study with adult New Zealanders. It explores how prevalent the experiences of (...) unwanted digital communication were in the last 12 months, before, during, and just after the nationwide COVID 19 lockdown. This study found a higher prevalence of unwanted digital communications around the time of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. This study’s findings suggest that unexpected health and social events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and compulsory lockdown, are factors that can trigger changes in people’s experiences of online risk from unwanted digital communications. (shrink)

The most prominent strand of moral thought in the African philosophical tradition is relational and cohesive, roughly demanding that we enter into community with each other. Familiar is the view that being a real person means sharing a way of life with others, perhaps even in their fate. What does such a communal ethic prescribe for the coronavirus pandemic? Might it forbid one from social distancing, at least away from intimates? Or would it entail that social distancing is wrong (...) to some degree, although morally permissible on balance? Or could it mean that social distancing is not wrong to any degree and could, under certain circumstances, be the right way to commune? In this article, I defend the latter view. I argue that, given an independently attractive understanding of how to value communal relationship, distancing oneself from others when necessary to protect them from serious incapacitation or harm can come at no cost to right action. However, I also discuss cases in which social distancing would evince a lack of good character, despite being the right thing to do. (shrink)

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread to almost all provinces in Indonesia, including South Sumatra. Epidemiological models are required to provide evidence for public health policymakers to mitigate the virus. The aim of this study is: 1) to create a prediction model for COVID-19 cases in South Sumatra to help inform about public health policy and 2) to reflect on women’s experiences to provide solutions for mitigating the impact of COVID-19. This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods. A quantitative (...) modeling approach called Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) model is used to predict COVID-19 cases in South Sumatra. The assumption used is that every four days, a doubling of COVID-19 cases is observed, with an average of 15 days for recovery. The sources of data are reports from the South Sumatra Provincial Government and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia (MOH RI). Qualitative data are obtained through a feminist participatory action research project, which is focused on children’s experiences of COVID-19. Reflective analysis is conducted to develop insights into how to empower women with respect to mitigating COVID-19. Results show that COVID-19 cases in South Sumatra are still underreported, with only 5%–10% of the total estimated COVID-19 cases being reported. Modeling indicates that over 1,000 people had COVID-19 by the end of April, reaching over 150,000 by the end of May, and over a third of South Sumatra’s population is likely to be infected by the end of June. Multiple interventions are needed to reduce cases and flatten the curve. Women are key to flattening this curve and must be empowered to undertake actions from a familial base. (shrink)

În cazul pandemiei COVID-19, există unele semne ale schimbării de paradigmă, inclusiv dispariția bruscă a ideologiei legate de „ziduri”: ”o tuse a fost suficientă pentru a face dintr-o dată imposibilă evitarea responsabilității pe care fiecare individ o are față de toate ființele vii pentru simplul fapt că este parte a acestei lumi, și a dorinței de a fi parte a ei”. Întregul este întotdeauna implicat în parte, pentru că totul este, într-un anumit sens, în tot și în natură nu există (...) regiuni autonome care să constituie o excepție. Virusul pare să restabilească supremația care a aparținut cândva politicii. Una din virtuțile virusului este capacitatea acestuia de a genera o idee mai sobră de libertate: a fi liber înseamnă a face ceea ce trebuie făcut într-o situație specifică. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.29865.83041. (shrink)

The coronavirus pandemic, like its predecessors - AIDS, Ebola, etc., is evidence of the evolutionary instability of the socio-cultural and ecological niche created by mankind, as the main factor in the evolutionary success of our biological species and the civilization created by it. At least, this applies to the modern global civilization, which is called technogenic or technological, although it exists in several varieties. As we hope to show, the current crisis has less ontological as well as epistemological roots; (...) its reason lies in the main evolutionary trends in the development of science as a social institution. It was only later that epistemological factors were transformed into existential-ontological factors associated with the asymmetry of the existence of civilization and our biosocial nature. The perception or ignorance of a risk factor as a real fact is determined by the presence or absence of knowledge about it. In other words, risk is the result of the integration of the corresponding ontological concept into the general categorical structure. The plurality of such structures is a hallmark of multidisciplinary ontologies, each of which is associated with its own factual continuum. The aim of this study was to conceptually model for support relativistic parameter of evolutionary efficiency of stable evolutionary human strategy (SESH) in its techno-rationalistic module. The meaning of this term is equivalent to the category of scientific and technological development. (shrink)

يُعالج هذا المقال آلية التطور اللُغوي بصفة عامة، وملامح هذا التطور في أوقات الأزمات النوعية التي تكتنف البشر من حين إلى آخر، سواء أكانت أزمات مجتمعية أو سياسية أو اقتصادية أو علمية، مع التركيز على أبرز الابتكارات والإضافات اللغوية المُعجمية في دول العالم الناطق بالإنجليزية خلال جائحة كورونا، وذلك انطلاقًا من فرضٍ رئيس مؤداه ضرورة مشاركة علماء اللغة في مواجهة الأزمة ابتغاءً للوضوح والشفافية.

وفقًا لأحدث التقارير، هناك أكثر من مائة وأربعين تركيبة كيميائية تخضع الآن للتجارب على مستويات مختلفة، كما استثمرت الحكومات والمؤسسات الكبرى مثل مؤسسة «بيل وميليندا جيتس» مليارات الدولارات لتمويل البحث عن «الرصاصة الفضية» Silver Bullet السحرية التي من شأنها القضاء على الفيروس العنيف والمُراوغ. وما زالت كثرة من البروتوكولات المتعلقة بتطوير اللقاح المُنتظر – ونتائج تجاربها على البشر – مُحاطة بالسرية في ظل التنافس المحموم على أخذ زمام المبادرة.

كان من الطبيعي أن ينصب اهتمام العالم خلال الشهور الأخيرة على فيروس كورونا وكيفية تجاوز جائحته بأقل خسائر مُمكنة، فقد بلغ عدد قتلاه حتى اليوم (2 يونيو 2020) 380.265 شخص، وبات الاقتصاد في حالة فوضى يُرثى لها، وتقلصت حياة البشر وخُطتهم اليومية والمستقبلية بشكلٍ شبه كامل، وتعثرت الدراسة بالمدارس والجامعات، واضطرب الأداء الحكومي في أغلب بلدان العالم، ... إلخ. لكن تركيز الجميع على مشكلةٍ بعينها في عالمٍ يعج بالمشكلات من شأنه أن يُقوض كافة الجهود التي بُذلت أو تُبذل من أجل (...) مستقبلٍ أفضل، لاسيما إن كانت هذه المشكلات أشد إلحاحًا وأكثر خطورة. (shrink)

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has had far-reaching effects on public health around the world. Attempts to prevent the spread of the disease by quarantine have led to large-scale global socioeconomic disrup- tion. During the outbreak, public authorities and politicians have struggled with how to manage widespread ignorance regarding the virus. Drawing on insights from social epistemology and the emerging interdisciplinary field of ignorance studies, this article provides evidence that the temporality of non- knowing and its intersection with knowing (...) is a force that leads political decision-making during a crisis. Illuminating the epistemic analysis with statements given by the Finnish government to the media in decision- making documents and in press conferences, this paper proposes that a crisis situation, itself, seems to demand from political decision-makers dynamic action while simultaneously knowing little (‘non-knowing’) about the different fronts of tackling the pandemic. We conclude that non-knowing must be recognized explicitly as an enduring and central condition in deci- sion-making, which we call ‘epistemic humility.’. (shrink)

The new Coronavirus, namely Sars-CoV-2, took the world by surprise and grew into a pandemic worldwide in a couple of months since the beginning of 2020. It managed to lockdown at home almost half of the world population under the threat of illness and sudden death. Due to the extreme medical advises of containing the spread and damages of this threat, mostly directed towards social distancing, public gatherings cancelation, and contact tracing, each State imposed such regulations to their people (...) and for all areas of social activity, including the religious ones. This articles analyses four topics: 1. Restrictions imposed by the State and reactions by religious organizations. The theological-ethical response focused on the fact that all religions what to save lives and defeat death. 2. The pandemic shows the sensitive relation between the State and religions and shows the differences in power relations in the different countries. The theological-ethical response calls for a partnership between the State and the religions in their territory. 3. The relation between science and religion is tested during the pandemic. Whereas the majority of believers adhere to scientific results, a good part refuses scientific knowledge. The theological-ethical response of the authors is that science and religion are complementary and not contradictory. 4. Pandemics as situations of high uncertainty are often accompanied by conspiracy theories that claim to know who is guilty for the disaster, who is the scapegoat, which has to be punished. The theological-ethical response gives theological reasons to say no to conspiracies and scapegoats and yes to take responsibility wherever we are in order to save lives. (shrink)

This paper explains how discrimination and COVID-19 related stigmas are intertwined. When people stigmatize COVID-19 victims, they act in ways for which the victims suffer status loss and discrimination. As a result, they do not enjoy participatory parity in various aspects of their life making COVID-19 related stigmatization a deplorable instance of discrimination. But a society already fraught with discrimination is a breeding ground of stigmatization often because of people’s fear and anxiety about their life once they become a patient (...) of a disease like COVID-19. (shrink)

Her heart shared between Iran and Italy, while Asma Mehan makes peace with lockdown in her current home in Porto, Portugal, her thoughts stray to those familiar places. In those distant horizons there is heartache, but also the unexpected promise of different futures.

Why are mistaken beliefs about Covid-19 so prevalent? Political identity, education and other demographic variables explain only a part of individual differences in the susceptibility to Covid-19 misinformation. This paper focuses on another explanation: epistemic vice. Epistemic vices are character traits that interfere with acquiring, maintaining, and transmitting knowledge. If the basic assumption of vice epistemology is right, then people with epistemic vices such as indifference to the truth or rigidity in their belief structures will tend to be more susceptible (...) to believing Covid-19 misinformation. We carried out an observational study (US sample, n = 998) in which we measured the level of epistemic vice of participants using a novel Epistemic Vice Scale. We also asked participants questions eliciting the extent to which they subscribe to myths and misinformation about Covid-19. We find overwhelming evidence to the effect that epistemic vice is associated with susceptibility to Covid-19 misinformation. In fact, the association turns out to be stronger than with political identity, educational attainment, scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test, personality, dogmatism, and need for closure. We conclude that this offers evidence in favor of the empirical presuppositions of vice epistemology. (shrink)

Background: In the first few months of 2020, information and news reports about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were rapidly published and shared on social media and social networking sites. While the field of infodemiology has studied information patterns on the Web and in social media for at least 18 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to as the first social media infodemic. However, there is limited evidence about whether and how the social media infodemic has spread panic and (...) affected the mental health of social media users. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine how social media affects self-reported mental health and the spread of panic about COVID-19 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Methods: To carry out this study, an online questionnaire was prepared and conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a total of 516 social media users were sampled. This study deployed a content analysis method for data analysis. Correspondingly, data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Participants reported that social media has a significant impact on spreading fear and panic related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a potential negative influence on people’s mental health and psychological well-being. Facebook was the most used social media network for spreading panic about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraq. We found a significant positive statistical correlation between self-reported social media use and the spread of panic related to COVID-19 (R=.8701). Our results showed that the majority of youths aged 18-35 years are facing psychological anxiety. Conclusions: During lockdown, people are using social media platforms to gain information about COVID-19. The nature of the impact of social media panic among people varies depending on an individual's gender, age, and level of education. Social media has played a key role in spreading anxiety about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan. (shrink)

This review has direct bearing on a COVID 19 world and uses Blackburn's understanding of ontotheology to foreground a critique not only of narcissism but also of the novel coronavirus. This book is a gem which reviewed in India during early COVID 19 lockdown is now all the more important since COVID 19 changes the way we approach Blackburn.

Purpose of Review Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is identified from Wuhan, China, and has spread almost worldwide. Recently, the newly identified SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed to kill millions of people worldwide and is dangerous to society health, survival, and livelihood. The people with cardiovascular problems are noticed as most common patients of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a greater risk of mortality and morbidity in these patients than other patients of COVID-19. In the heart, expressed (...) angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and response effect of hyperactivity with angiotensin II associated to the renin-angiotensin mechanism are key factors of hypertension, atherosclerosis, and congestive heart failure. -/- Recent Findings Mortality rates have been observed about 10.5% cases in patients with cardiovascular disease; however, a mortality rate of 52% was recorded in patients with heart failure, while 12% recovered ultimately. The occupancy of intense injury controlled by troponin elevation was a noteworthy factor in relation to mortality. Among 187 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, about 35% were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD) history and 28% with raised troponin. Troponin elevation was identified more frequently (55%) in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Mortality rate in patients without cardiovascular diseases and normal troponin was 7.6%, normal troponin and cardiovascular disease with 13.3%, augmented troponin and without cardiovascular disease 37.5%, however 69.4% among cardiovascular disease and advanced troponin. -/- Summary The study reflected a significant association of case fatality rate (CFR) to COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular diseases which supposed to be the most common dangerous risk factor and health challenge during the current pandemic situation. (shrink)

Today, dramatically increasing economic inequality, imminent climatological calamity, and a global pandemic now place the timeless debate over capitalism into stark relief. Though many seek to pin the blame on capitalism’s excesses, they would do well to recall the historical record of socialism’s deficiencies, namely, stifling innovation, lumbering inefficiency, and stagnation. Fortunately, our moral psychology affords a middle way between these two extremes. For while economic incentives have a tendency to let our civic and prosocial impulses atrophy from disuse, these (...) can also be rekindled when we are faced with highly compelling reasons to think and act for the greater good of all concerned. The coronavirus pandemic now unfolding might well offer us an opportunity to instill a culture of heightened moral self-awareness spurring a more virtuous form of capitalism. (shrink)

Durant la pandémie, le numérique s’est révélé un outil précieux pour assurer une continuité de la vie professionnelle, de l’éducation, de la vie familiale et amicale, et assurer une appétence pour la vie culturelle disponible en ligne. La bataille contre le coronavirus grâce au numérique se joue également sur d’autres plans : des gouvernements, avec l’appui d’entreprises privées, développent de nouvelles politiques de surveillance de l’épidémie et des personnes infectées. Ces usages technologiques sont des gages d’efficacité mais également des (...) facteurs de risques pour les libertés des citoyens. (shrink)

After long arguments between positivism and falsificationism, the verification of universal hypotheses was replaced with the confirmation of uncertain major premises. Unfortunately, Hemple proposed the Raven Paradox. Then, Carnap used the increment of logical probability as the confirmation measure. So far, many confirmation measures have been proposed. Measure F proposed by Kemeny and Oppenheim among them possesses symmetries and asymmetries proposed by Elles and Fitelson, monotonicity proposed by Greco et al., and normalizing property suggested by many researchers. Based on the (...) semantic information theory, a measure b* similar to F is derived from the medical test. Like the likelihood ratio, measures b* and F can only indicate the quality of channels or the testing means instead of the quality of probability predictions. Furthermore, it is still not easy to use b*, F, or another measure to clarify the Raven Paradox. For this reason, measure c* similar to the correct rate is derived. Measure c* supports the Nicod Criterion and undermines the Equivalence Condition, and hence, can be used to eliminate the Raven Paradox. An example indicates that measures F and b* are helpful for diagnosing the infection of Novel Coronavirus, whereas most popular confirmation measures are not. Another example reveals that all popular confirmation measures cannot be used to explain that a black raven can confirm “Ravens are black” more strongly than a piece of chalk. Measures F, b*, and c* indicate that the existence of fewer counterexamples is more important than more positive examples’ existence, and hence, are compatible with Popper’s falsification thought. (shrink)

Las consecuencias de la pandemia pueden considerarse como desgracias o injusticias. En este escrito mostraré que la situación general en Chile se configura como una injusticia. Para justificar el punto anterior describiré a grandes rasgos las caracterı́sticas fundamentales del igualitarismo de la suerte. Luego, al exponer los datos disponibles en Chile, mostraré por qué en Chile las consecuencias del coronavirus se configuran como injusticias. En particular, mostraré que si los seres humanos son libres e iguales en derechos, entonces es (...) necesario que esa igualdad se exprese en su igual capacidad de enfrentar la suerte bruta. Ası́, los seres humanos son por una parte, libres, y por ende responsables, y por otro, iguales, y por ende, libres de la suerte bruta. Por lo tanto, el rol del estado, en tanto conjunto de instituciones que distribuyen justicia, es minimizar la suerte (bruta). La relación entre los efectos de la pandemia y condición socioeconómica debe leerse como el abandono de los ciudadanos a su suerte bruta. Dejar a los ciudadanos a su suerte no es simplemente una desgracia, es una injusticia. (shrink)