Dangerous Times Research Articles

Ethics, AI, Mass Data and Pandemic Challenges: Responsible Data Use and Infrastructure Application for Surveillance and Pre-emptive Tracing Post-crisis

As the COVID-19 health pandemic rages governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have the capacity to amass personal data and share for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside such times of real and present danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission, this paper argues that this infrastructure application for surveillance has serious ethical and regulatory implications in the medium and long term in relation to individual dignity, civil liberties, transparency, data aggregation, explainability and other governance challenges. To conduct this analysis, the paper presents the Singapore and China case studies, and offers a comparative description based on the many more initiatives implemented worldwide in order to understand the purpose, goal and risk of these infrastructures. The analysis looks at data protection and citizen integrity and reflects on other surveillance methods outside the health context, such as initiatives implemented in the financial sector, where similar challenges have arisen.

Drainage of inflammatory macromolecules from the brain to periphery targets the liver for macrophage infiltration.

Many brain pathologies are associated with liver damage, but a direct link has long remained elusive. Here, we establish a new paradigm for interrogating brain-periphery interactions by leveraging zebrafish for its unparalleled access to the intact whole animal for in vivo analysis in real time after triggering focal brain inflammation. Using traceable lipopolysaccharides (LPS), we reveal that drainage of these inflammatory macromolecules from the brain led to a strikingly robust peripheral infiltration of macrophages into the liver independent of Kupffer cells. We further demonstrate that this macrophage recruitment requires signaling from the cytokine IL-34 and Toll-like receptor adaptor MyD88, and occurs in coordination with neutrophils. These results highlight the possibility for circulation of brain-derived substances to serve as a rapid mode of communication from brain to the liver. Understanding how the brain engages the periphery at times of danger may offer new perspectives for detecting and treating brain pathologies.

Ratifikasi Konvensyen Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu terhadap Hak Orang Kurang Upaya: Implikasi dan Realiti dari Dimensi Perundangan dan Kesamarataan

Issues related to the disabled right in the country continue to attract criticism and debate, as implementation is very slow and weak. The disabled have the right to live like other normal people, which includes protection in times of danger and emergency. One of the important mechanism for the care of the disabled is through legal means. The government has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as part of its efforts to empower and protect this minority group. As such, the government has taken the initiative to enact the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2010 as one of the government’s commitments in complying with international human rights conventions as long these do not against the Federal Constitution. This article aims to uncover and analyse the legal provisions in Malaysia relating to the disabled and their right to live, as stated in the Federal Constitution and relevant legal provisions. In essence, this shows that Malaysia, as a member of the UN, is bound to adopt international laws and treaties on human rights if these do not violate local norms and values. At the end of the discussion, some ideas are presented as solutions for the government to improve the issue of disabled persons so that in the eyes of the world, Malaysia will be recognized as one of the countries that cares for and defends its disabled, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2008.

Rhetorical Philosophy in a Difficult and Dangerous Time

ABSTRACT Philosophy combined with rhetoric offers a consolation in a time of crisis that politics cannot achieve. Political speech is guided by ideology. Philosophical speech is guided by ideas. It is the ideas that offer perspective that is so much needed in difficult and dangerous times.

Corona pandemic: A lesson learned and preparedness for future crisis

As the ripple of COVID-19 seen around the globe, it’s forcing humankind to innovate and change the way we work and live. The upside of where we find ourselves right now is that individuals and corporations will be more resilient in a post-COVID-19 world. It can act as a ‘’WAKE-UP CALL FOR ALL OF US, AS A INDIVIDUAL, AS A SOCIETY AND AS A COUNTRY. ‘’life after Covid-19 should not be the same. It will call for a change in priorities, in focus and in the way we do things.SARS-COV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus -2), The virus that causes Covid-19,first emerged in Wuhan china, in December 2019.The virus caught the global community off guard, and it’s future course is still unpredictable, it was on March 11, 2020,that the world health organization (WHO.,) [5] declared a global pandemic. There is no crystal ball to tell us what the future holds and what the ‘’end game’’ for controlling this pandemic will be. Billions of people are in lockdown, unable to visit one another, unable to go work, unable to attend school, unable to meet one another in public places. People around the world are in desperate straights, struggling at home, in care homes and intensive care units, dying of the same cause, separated from their loved ones in their hours of need. At times of existential danger, we instinctively desire to be close to our family and friends, hold their hands and embrace them but now we are forbidden to do so, for every act of physical contact, every expression of physical loving-kindness and compassion could bring illness and death.

Food safety risk during the pandemic

Food safety risk during the pandemic

Regulating Personal Data Usage in COVID-19 Control Conditions

As the COVID-19 health pandemic ebbs and flows world-wide, governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have capacity to amass and share personal data for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside times of real and present personal danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission (provided that the technology can be shown to be fit for purpose), the paper argues that this technological infrastructure for surveillance can have serious ethical and regulatory implications in the medium and long term when reflected against human dignity, civil liberties, transparency, data aggregation, explainability and other governance fundamentals. The paper commences with the case for regulation recognising crisis exigencies, after which it reiterates personal data challenges, then surveys policy and regulatory options to equitably address these challenges.

Seeing the Caesar in Germanicus: Reading Tacitus’ Annals with Lucan’s Bellum Civile

AbstractThe recognition of the similarities between Roman epic poetry and historiography have led to valuable studies such as Joseph’s analysis of the relationship between Lucan’s Bellum Civile and Tacitus’ Histories. Traces of Lucan’s Bellum Civile can also be observed in Tacitus’ Annals 1 and 2, causing the beginning of Tiberius’ reign to look like a civil war in the making. The charismatic Germanicus sits with a supportive army on the northern frontier, much like Caesar, causing fear for Tiberius at Rome. Germanicus denies his chance to become the next Caesar and march on the city, but he exhibits other similarities with Lucan’s Caesar, including an association with Alexander the Great. Although at some points Germanicus seems to be repeating the past and reliving episodes experienced by Caesar in Bellum Civile, he prevents himself from fully realizing a Caesarian fate and becoming Lucan’s bad tyrant. The similar images, events, and themes presented by both authors create messages that reflect experiences from the authors’ own lives during dangerous times.

Hegemonic Feminism Revisited: On the Promises of Intersectionality in Times of the Precarisation of Life

ABSTRACT Intersectional studies are expanding and generating vital and much-needed theoretical debate in the discipline of feminist/gender studies. The aim of this article is to contribute to the debate through a critical reflection over the process of translation through which the concept has been introduced, interpreted and acted upon in Swedish gender studies. The purpose is also to bridge the concept of intersectionality and the notion of scholarships of hope, searching for forms of scholarly production that will fruitfully articulate academic knowledge with a political vision. The analysis acknowledges the relevance of an intersectional approach to understanding (and acting upon) the operations of power and the precarisation of life in these dangerous times of global exploitation and the multiplication of borders.

Becoming Blind

Medicine has always been regarded as one of the most significant disciplines, grounded in a humanistic approach, due to its ultimate exposure and connection with people as ‘patients’ and hence a holistic understanding of the patient as ‘human’ is fundamental. In our potentially dangerous times, the instrumental, technical and fragmented ways of seeing knowledge tend to permeate most disciplines, including medicine. This may result in individuals becoming alienated with the ‘self’ as potential doctors, with the discipline and with patients through the monologic discourse of academia or clinics. This article examines this (in)visible global issue in the specific context of Iran, where bilingual medical education adds another level of complexity in dialogic ‘seeing’ of self, knowledge and patients. Grounded in Bakhtin’s theory of dialogue and critical literacy approach to language and literacy, this article explores the affordances of a pedagogical intervention at an Iranian university. This offers diverse avenues for constructing a holistic medical knowledge in the process of becoming a professional through narrative medicine, clinical scenarios, evidence-based medicine and personal experiences. Selected stories of participants’ ontological and epistemological transformations, in their process of ideological becoming, are offered to argue for the urgency of dialogic ways of ‘seeing’ in potentially dangerous times.

Can One Be Rude to a Shoe? Saving Our Humanity and the Wrong of Rudeness

Can One Be Rude to a Shoe?Saving Our Humanity and the Wrong of Rudeness Julia Morgan (bio) Amy Olberding's book The Wrong of Rudeness is eye-opening and informative, while at the same time difficult to read, especially the first three chapters. To be clear, the difficulty does not lie in the prose or the concepts. The prose is accessible, examples relevant, and argument clear and cogent. My students recently made the comment that the women philosophers we read are clearer writers and provide more relatable examples than the male philosophers. These students would appreciate Olberding's book. Nevertheless, the book is difficult for me personally because of the extreme discomfort experienced upon discovering that people in the United States actually wish death upon each other or purposely take out their frustrations on others through acts of rudeness. The latter goes beyond not paying attention, something I also witness frequently in my travels, but is a purposeful refusal to admit that one has hurt another. As painful as these examples are, they also helpfully provide me with insight as to why I find the U.S. so alienating. By way of explanation, I have spent the last twenty-odd years in Hawai'i, living for the past five years on the island of Kaua'i.1 My experiences here seem to be very different from those Olberding describes.2 [End Page 1094] The book becomes somewhat less disconcerting upon realizing that Olberding is using what might be called an "internal argument" to craft her position. Rather than critiquing the premise—it is wrong to delight in rudeness—she accepts the premise by admitting she sometimes "delights" in being rude and then proceeds to argue that even if one accepts the premise, the conclusion remains: it is wrong to be rude. She bravely positions herself among those who contend that rudeness is a right, in some cases a birthright, by providing raw examples of her own missteps in all their ugly glory. Once she accepts the premise given by those who both embrace rudeness and are frequently rude, establishing herself as "one of them," she proceeds to demonstrate how not being rude is worth the effort as it connects us to community and saves us from a lonely future as a misanthrope. In short, she feels your pain, rude person, but she is going to struggle to be polite and so should you because being polite is important. Her project is a success largely due to her honesty and her use of Confucius and Xunzi to support her position. The use of Confucianism to support a claim that it is wrong to be rude has impact for two reasons. The first reason has to do with situating us within world history, which provides perspective. Confucius and Xunzi did not live easy lives. As Olberding shares, the pair lived during a time of almost incessant war (670 wars over a 259-year period)3 and all the attendant atrocities that go along with war, including famine, disruption of communities, corruption, and starvation. While we admittedly live in dangerous times and, for some, times that mandate rudeness, we are nowhere near the level of constant hostility and deprivations faced by Confucius and Xunzi. As such, we should find it much easier to engage in civility. The second reason has to do with defending Confucianism itself. Confucius and Confucianism are often critiqued for engaging in empty ritual. Similar to the critiques of Rousseau that Olberding recounted in chapter 3, "Temptations to Bad Manners," Confucianism is seen as "fakery" and promoting a herd mentality. Whether or not on purpose, she artfully positions the Confucian li 禮 as something more than knowing how many times to bow to your emperor or what fork to use. Rather, li is about acknowledging our dependency upon and vulnerability to others. The action of civility, then, is grounded both by rules and by a recognition of and commitment to what Olberding calls "Big Values." There is little in this book that I adamantly disagree with. Many philosophers, unfortunately myself included, tend to lump the world together or assume that "we" means everyone. Western notions about our relationships with and...

Active words in dangerous times: Beyond liberal models of dialogue in politics and pedagogy

Dialogue is a category that is central to politics, media, and education, and yet in all of these domains it can be confusing and ambiguous. Starting from a critical framework built on the work of educational philosopher Paulo Freire, we undertake an inquiry into the meaning of dialogical intersubjectivity and its political determinations, with a particular focus on liberal models. We situate this discussion in the context of the rise of radical Right populisms, which have exposed the strength of racial resentment and white supremacy in contemporary politics, and raised questions about the meaning of social cohesion and the relationship between speech and violence. In this context, we show how liberal calls for unity and reflexive defenses of free speech obscure the exclusions and antagonisms that traverse society, while also flattening the meaning of dialogue and betraying its emancipatory vocation. Finally, we suggest that educators should understand their work as continuous with a broader landscape of struggle, and that their interventions should be informed by an awareness of the pedagogical costs of reducing dialogue to a form of talk or method that refuses ethical and political commitment.

CIVIC AND UNIVERSAL VALUES IN THE CREATIVE WORK OF LESYA UKRAINKA AND OLENA TELIGA

The article examines the work of extraordinary poets, who are noted for their strength of character, women who consciously renounced their own interests for the sake of serving the country and society, had a clear goal, so they did not lose the strength to carry out their creative plans. Lesya Ukrainka and Olena Teliha are real fighters with high morals, a clear civil position and national self-respect. Their poems are a significant contribution to the treasury of socio-political lyrics of Ukrainian literature 2021 is a jubilee year, and the Ukrainian community will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lesya Ukrainka, an uncompromising person, citizen, and writer who has faced significant trials: the thirty years' fight with sickness, the persecution of family members, their imprisonment and death. However, this is a personality that more than one generation of real Ukrainians will look up to – those Ukrainians who will love Ukraine to the depths of their souls and "the depths of their pockets," as the famous philanthropist Yevhen Chykalenko said. Modernity has brought up very tolerant people, but sometimes it borders on weak will. What is the motto of her life: “Kill me – I will not give up!”, and the pseudonym, consonant with the middle name of Mikhail Drahomanov - clearly emphasizes the national affiliation of a person who is not ready to compromise with the enemy. The position of Olena Teliha is similar, she was not afraid to defend the honour of the native language, because the language is a marker of national identity, because anyone can wear a folk costume, but wearing an Indian sari Ukrainian will not become a Hindu, and a Chinese in embroidered clothes will remain Chinese. Olena could have been abroad and served Ukraine from there, but in times of danger the woman returned to Kyiv, headed the literary elite, and attended meetings without any fear of being arrested by the invaders. Her behaviour inspired her husband, Mikhailo Teliha, who was able to escape during the arrest of the literary association, and died, supporting his wife's political position. Ukrainians, and especially Ukrainian youth, should know such facts from the lives of famous (and not very famous) real citizens. National self-sacrifice, the desire to serve the native state must be conscious, and they can be brought up through the life's feat and poetic creativity of caring representatives of Ukraine.

Gesturing Across Settler Divides in Marumpu Wangka! Kukatja Hand Talk

In 2014, the government of Western Australia proposed a plan to defund, and in effect close, about half of the nearly three hundred remote Aboriginal communities in the state. During this time, the author collaborated on a hand sign video project with five women Elders at the Kapululangu Women’s Law and Culture Centre in Balgo, an Aboriginal community in the Great Sandy Desert. The author articulates why Marumpu Wangka! Kukatja Hand Talk—an unassuming and largely improvised video—struck a chord at this precarious moment for Aboriginal communities. The author argues that hand sign videos provide a rare mode of intercultural engagement that is simultaneously culturally specific and broadly relatable. In a mediascape in which most Australian viewers are inundated with visual tropes of Aboriginal communities as either suffering or mystical, representations of jovial gesture encourage understanding beyond these stereotypes by intimately engaging everyday community interaction. Referencing the supplemental eight-minute video throughout, the author (1) overviews the significance of hand sign systems in Aboriginal Australian communities, (2) describes the collaborative and improvised hand sign video production process, and (3) argues for the importance of visual representations that can transcend—even if modestly—settler/Indigenous divides during the current dangerous times for Aboriginal communities.

Ocular Becomings in Dangerous Times

Ocular Becomings in Dangerous Times

Generosity in performance

ABSTRACTThis paper is interested in positing a new performance analysis concept in support of both seeking and recognising performances that include generosity as a key component. The politics of distemper allow for insults and derogatory remarks to be shared widely by anonymous online trolls and via Twitter and press conferences by the current President of the United States. These feel like dangerous times. I seek to provide a counterbalance by turning to a performance analysis of plays and performances that feature the enactment of generosity as a key part of what was experienced by audiences.There are three kinds of generosity in performance that I wish to trace. These three types are:1. Structural generosity2. Improvisational generosity3. Intimate generosity

STRUGGLES IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT

We live in dangerous times with increasing nuclear threats in an increasingly unstable new world order. This article explores the context for these threats from a Marxist perspective, setting the scene for the discussion of CND’s contributions over time. The article concludes by considering the challenges to be faced in the coming period.

Truth Matters: Living in Dangerous Times - Aquinas on the Virtue of Truth-Telling

Abstract Current political and social climate seems to have as a presupposition the view that truth-telling has a merely instrumental value. This paper will explore Thomas Aquinas’ writing on truth and truth-telling, arguing that truth-telling is an intrinsic good, a human virtue and a component of human flourishing. In Aquinas’ view the virtue of truth-telling is a satellite virtue within the cardinal virtue of justice, and as such imperative for the flourishing of human society.

The Possibilities for “Humanizing” Posthumanist Inquiries: An Intra-Active Conversation

What are the ethical responsibilities of doing and teaching qualitative inquiry at a time when Black and Brown bodies are under assault, an expression of White supremacy that has become ever more visible in the wake of the election of Donald Trump? And how might scholars who “think with” posthumanist theories respond to the call for more “humanizing” methodologies being made by African American and Latinx researchers? This article responds to this moment by presenting a conversation among three literacy scholars about the ethical challenges they have encountered in their own engagements with posthumanist theories, and the implications this has for doing/teaching qualitative inquiry. We call for more openness about the limits as well as the possibilities of posthumanisms, and more attention to ethics for justice. The entanglements of human/nonhuman assemblages in these dangerous times call on us to act, not only think, with theory.

The times and spaces of leadership development: (un)designing learning

The above quotation taps into something within the human condition that is potentiallyat least, very powerful. We, human beings, have aspirations; flying might be just one ofthem! But the central point here is that “the majority of people” often comply or silencetheir aspirations. In some contexts around the world, silence and compliance could beseen as the “rational” choice. However, even within great oppressive regimes, the humanspirit may shine through, and empowerment can potentially emerge.Our complex and dangerous times set the context for both tragedy and hope. Against thisbackdrop, this special issue of Cuadernos de Administracion explores the ways in whichleadership spirit can develop. To be more specific, we delve into this tension betweentragedy and hope through the four following main themes:• The spaces for learning• Crossing boundaries for learning• Timing in learning• Power dynamics in learning spaces