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IS COLLECTIVE CONTROL TAKING OVER?

Brush turkeys are asocial, at the opposite end of a spectrum from Bees, whose roles are controlled by the group. Human control is changing towards collective control but it is not always wanted. The novel Turkeys Not Bees explores some trends in control and how they are being resisted. Chance is a physicist who overcomes epistemic injustice from working for employers who keep him on ‘treadmills’, unable to be creative. His experiences are explained by the philosophers Nietzsche and De Beauvoir. He quits and goes back to university to investigate the metaphysics of flow, a psychological condition observed by performers. He meets Megan, an elite athlete and he helps her to train to compete in flow by self-coached analysis of her phenomenon, by the method of philosopher Heidegger. She suffers gaslighting by officials and competitors who accuse her of unfair advantage and try to ban her training methods. She has to struggle to assert her individuality, against regulations imposed by ‘levellers’ who want athletes to have equal success. They act for a ‘nanny state’, which embraces collectivism to control sport, universities, schools, arts, healthcare and employment. Society is under the influence of The Spectacle (Debord 1967) with mass events controlled by industries and governments, for profits from consumption and for votes. Chance and Megan are in love and fight authorities to control her training for the Olympics. When they are quarantined in a pandemic, they lead a campaign which resists mandatory vaccination. Will their campaign of civil disobedience restore to them their traditional rights to train, compete and protect themselves? This is an exciting story set in Brisbane Australia, 2032, with conflict between individualism and collectivism. Turkeys Not Bees is available on Amazon. Reviews see martinknox.com

HOW SOON WILL COVID END?

I have made an historical review of world incidents, disasters of the calibre of Covid 19, to better see what we could be in for in the medium term. This is a list of events that seemed dire and interminable at the time, as Covid 19 does now. I have tried to identify those most similar to the current virus pandemic. As we wait for the Covid 19 pandemic to end, we can reflect on the endings to previous world incidents and look for any pattern that could indicate how long we may have to wait.

WWI ended in 1918 when Kaiser Wilhem abdicated and Germany signed an armistice. After depression lasting 10 years, the Great Depression ended in the US with the New Deal and start of the war. World war 2 lasted for 6 years until atomic bombs brought Japan to surrender. A polio epidemic peaked in 1940-1950 and continues in Afghanistan today. Smog deaths were reduced after the UKs clean air act in1956. The Cuban Missile crisis ended in 1962 when Russia backed down and withdrew its missiles. In 1972, OPEC hiked oil prices causing a global economic shock. In 1973, the US quit its war in Vietnam. In China, Mao’s Cultural Revolution created turmoil until 1976 when he died. In 1986, a Russian nuclear power station exploded causing concerns about radioactivity that continue even now. In 1987 an international treaty in Montreal agreed to limit ozone destroying gases. Concern about global warming began and continues today. In 1992, the Soviet government collapsed, ending the Cold War which had continued since the 1950s. An outbreak of BSE brought UK livestock farming to a halt in 1993 and continued at low incidence in 2015. In 1997 AIDS, which had commenced a decade earlier, began decline but continues at epidemic levels in some countries. In 2000, the Millenium Bug, which had generated computer investment, was a furphy. In 2001, an attack on the World Trade Centre in New York led to invasion of Afghanistan that lasted 20 years, until the US quit in 2021. In 2016, after 40 years, Ebolla was declared to no longer be an emergency. In 2019, an outbreak of Covid-19 in China spread worldwide and continued to be active in 2021, with some prospect of restrictions being lifted when vaccination had brought protection.

Of the above, the AIDS and Ebolla epidemics seem most likely to presage our Covid 19 future. Covid is likely to be a significant presence for another 30-40 years, diminishing and with sporadic outbreaks. Travel restrictions could be lifted as populations are vaccinated and infections become accepted, like bad strains of influenza have been. Covid restrictions have mitigated the flu but as restrictions are lifted, we can expect the ‘flu to return. Economic conditions could return to normal and could even boom. Some businesses and jobs perceived to harbour or promote infection could be lost but others facilitating remote dealing could be gained. If I had known Covid was coming, I would have toured overseas along the humanized routes that will in future have dehumanizing restrictions and be closely monitored for disease. There can be expected to be jobs and ambitions that will try to keep restrictions going, magnify outbreaks and exaggerate risks from self-interest. My interest in travel and social gatherings may never recover.

I have omitted natural disasters because they can recur, with no end.

My blog: martinknox.com

COVID TOPICS LIST

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COVID 19 see Category Archives most recent at top

  1. Vaccination treatment alternatives
  2. Lifestyle Recovery reset after pandemic
  3. Politics not the same online
  4. Build immunity and limit transmission
  5. How much Covid risk should we cover?
  6. Covid infection not just a germ
  7. Are you stoical about restrictions?
  8. Governing pandemic by optimism
  9. Balancing pandemic control
  10. How will repaying covid-19 affect us?
  11. Who will pay the bill for Covid-19?
  12. Is infection like a crime
  13. Pandemic dynamics not understood
  14. Maturity could be reduced
  15. Opinion: Liberty could be reduced
  16. Deaths by any other name
  17. Covid 19 Deaths relative to fatalities
  18. Disease thwarted
  19. Private and public risks of Covid-19
  20. Age-restriction of interaction for well-being
  21. Immunity without vaccines, victims or vectors?
  22. Helpless patients more likely to die
  23. Germ wars: immune system strikes back
  24. Elderly suicide bombers
  25. Herd immunity at what cost?
  26. Surveyed the wrong sample.
  27. Covid-19 analogy of road deaths
  28. Three Covid-19 treatments
  29. Covid-19 affects ages differently
  30. Covid-19 by any other name
  31. Quarantine was effective in 1918
  32. Covid-19 for how long is fair?
  33. Covid-19 causing a paradigm shift online
  34. Could Covid-19 effect on age at death be small in Australia?
  35. Time to discount Covid-19
  36. Loyalty versus Covid-19
  37. Can parents teach their kids in Covid-19 lockdown?
  38. Opposing Covid-19 with obedience
  39. Get used to social isolation
  40. Will social distancing change us?

VACCINATION TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES

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