COVID-19 has reminded us that 2+2 is not equal to 5
As we were reminded by the eventful Us vice-presidential debate last week, COVID-19 has ravaged our world and forced us into sober reflection. For the majority of global citizens this is a potent and grave reminder of our frailty, and we are forced to reckon with our impermanence.
With the recently confirmed infection of famous global politicians who have disavowed the value of efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, no longer can we pretend to live in a world in which action is not married to consequence.
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 spoke to the danger of false dogma. He illustrated the challenge of deciphering whether falsehoods, metaphorically displayed by 2 +
2 = 5, declared by an authoritarian State, can evolve into being taken for fact.
As our world has increased in complexity, we have an unprecedented ability to quickly represent — or misrepresent — information at alarming scales of influence. We must therefore proactively consider whether our opinions are founded upon fact-based principles and practices, and ask ourselves whether the premises upon which we have been operating are, in fact, anchored to reality.
In its earlier days, the threat of COVID-19 was met by varying levels of urgency in different states. Expectedly, countries that had heeded early warnings and sought proactive and timely risk mitigation have found themselves in a fortunate position — such as Taiwan, South Korea. Conversely, states that responded with denial and contrived positivism have suffered dearly, both in loss of life and loss of economic integrity. Ironically, failure to take early action for fear of economic consequences will likely redound to their longterm economic detriment.
Delayed responses appear to have been the consequence of either outright disavowal — perhaps in an attempt to avert disruptive economic forces — or blasé, dismissive reactions stemming from a misguided understanding of the threat. From blatant falsehoods with proclamations that the virus does not exist, to undermining prevarications that mischaracterise its severity, these shortcomings in leadership have been costly. In some states,
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ignorance has been blended with political expediency that has further impeded adequate preparation and appropriate management. For this, lives and livelihoods have been lost.
It is plausible that many decision-makers that have failed their states had been accustomed to circumnavigating unfavourable situations with distortion and spin, and assumed that COVID-19 was simply another threat that could be managed away. The political game is indeed complex and multidimensional, and responses to threats have to be strategically designed to ensure that the spectrum of outcomes are favourable across a range of scenarios. However, as the recently confirmed infection of famous global politicians has shown, viruses have no regard for personal, political, or economic priorities. They infect without discrimination, and — as far as they are concerned — we are all potential hosts for propagation. They have reminded us that biological forces are natural and cannot be ignored, and we have been forced to acknowledge that there are rules to our existence that no amount of triangulation will nullify.
As collective human intelligence has increased in its depth and scope, and we have been able to achieve feats unimaginable to our predecessors. This collective human achievement has been accelerated by the tool kit of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has given us the ability to design and create intelligence. We should consider whether we have been blinded by the allure of infinite possibility and have mistakenly misread our achievements as omnipotence. Increasingly, we have come to live in a world where facts are blatantly denied and entitled ideologues assume the power to design truth. We should reflect on the possibility that we have been disconnected from reality for too long and have been calling shovels spades for such a long time that we have failed to recognise that they are indeed not the same.
Perhaps, like Icarus, we have flown too close to the sun, and — after over a century of progress, grandiosity, and illusions of immortality — this pandemic has reminded us of our collective humanity. It is hoped that this grave and traumatic global experience begets a new spirit of commitment to truth; a resolve to remain fact-driven and boldly acknowledge when the emperor wears no clothes. And as the phoenix rises from the ashes, and we move forward as a rehabilitated human race, may we be reminded that, no matter where we go, the rules of mathematics still exist.
David Walcott, PHD, is a medical doctor, entrepreneur and consultant to several businesses in the Caribbean. His is a Rhodes scholar and founder of Novamed, a company driving the adoption of innovative health care solutions in emerging markets and operates several businesses in the region. He currently serves as co-chair of the COVID steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Global shapers Community.
Today is the 288th day of 2020. There are 78 days left in the year.
Scapa Flow, with loss of 833 lives.
1944: British and Greek troops liberate Athens from Germans; German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
1947: US Air Force Captain
Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than sound as he tests a rocket-powered research plane over California.
1960: The idea of a Peace Corps is first suggested by Democratic US presidential candidate John F Kennedy to an audience of students at University of Michigan.
1964: US civil rights leader Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1968: The first live telecast from a manned US spacecraft is transmitted from Apollo 7.
1973: Sanya Thammasak, university administrator, is named premier of Thailand after violent clashes between troops and students.
1982: Vietnam turns over to US officials the remains of five Americans believed to have been murdered in Cambodia under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime.
1986: Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1987: Governor General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau resigns after Fiji is declared a republic following two coups d’etats.
1989: Jordan officially launches its first national election campaign in 22 years.
1990: Israeli Government decides against cooperating with United Nations team investigating shooting deaths of 19 Palestinians at the Temple Mount.
1991: Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi wins Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to achieve democracy in her homeland.
1992: A judge in Rostov-on-don, Russia, convicts Andrei Chikatilo of the sex murders of 52 children and young women over a 12-year period. The horrific nature of the crimes makes Chikatilo one of the worst serial killers in history.
1993: Within hours of a United Nations police team pull-out of
Haiti, gunmen assassinate Justice Minister Guy Malary, creating another setback to plans for ousted President Jean-bertrand Aristide’s return.
1994: Israeli leaders Yitzhak
Rabin and Shimon Peres share the Nobel Peace Prize with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.
1995: Greece lifts its embargo on the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, which agrees to change its flag and declare that it has no claims on Greek territory.
1996: Truckloads of Taliban soldiers reinforce their battered defences north of Kabul, Afghanistan, after losing two strategic towns to former government soldiers.
1997: Dozens of protesters shouting “Clinton go home!” burn an effigy of US President Bill Clinton and throw manure on his limousine, marring an otherwise smooth visit to Brazil.
1998: Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate and a critic of the Nigerian Government, returns to his homeland for the first time in four years and is greeted by jubilant crowds.
1999: Former Tanzanian
President Julius Nyerere, the father of Tanzanian independence and a symbol of Africa’s hopes as it emerged from the shadow of colonial rule, dies at 77 of leukaemia.
2000: Alija Izetbegovic, who led the Bosnian Muslims through Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II, resigns from the Bosnian presidency, leaving power in a manner rare in the Balkans.
2002: Britain suspends the Northern Ireland Assembly, saying direct British rule was being introduced over the province because of “a loss of confidence on both sides of the community”. It was the fourth suspension since December 1999.
2004: Soldiers attack kidnappers holding two Chinese engineers near the Afghan border, killing all five of the militants led by a former Guantanamo prisoner who Pakistani officials say has ties to al-qaeda.
2005: The famed La Scala opera house closes its doors along with most other Italian theatres and cinemas as performers and staff go on strike against planned government budget cuts they say will cripple funding for the arts.
2006: The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to impose punishing sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, declaring that its action posed “a clear threat to international peace and security”.
2007: A landslide triggered by local residents digging for rumoured deposits of gold in an abandoned mine kills at least 21 people and injures 26 in southern Colombia.
2008: Syria formally recognises Lebanon by establishing diplomatic relations with the nation.
2009: Iraq’s Government says at least 85,000 Iraqis were killed from 2004 to 2008, officially answering one of the biggest questions of the conflict — how many perished in the sectarian violence that nearly led to a civil war?
2010: The United States endorses fragile Afghan efforts to negotiate peace with the
Taliban, backing off its prior stance that talks with the Taliban were premature until the war is all but won.
2011: Britain’s Defence Minister Liam Fox quits his post after days of allegations about the influencepeddling of a close personal friend who joined key visits overseas and posed as an unofficial aide.
2012: Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner lands gracefully on earth after a 24-mile (39-kilometre) jump from the stratosphere in a daring, dramatic feat that officials say made him the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound.
2013: Gunmen in Syria release three Red Cross staffers and a Red Crescent volunteer who had been kidnapped in rebel-held territory.
Eamon de Valera, Irish statesman (1882-1975); Dwight D Eisenhower, US general and 34th US president (1890-1969); Mobuto Sese Seko, Zairian dictator (1930-1997), Cliff Richard, British singer (1940- ); Roger Moore, British actor (19272017)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS