Posts Tagged ‘pandemia’
The pandemic plateau remains
06
Jul
The data observed in the last week of deaths by the corona virus, which are reliable
data, since the curve of infected people depends on testing, which is done by companies and is still low, indicate that the plateau remains and the pandemic is internalized in the Brazil (see graph), we have already stressed the importance of making the logarithm to better visualize the slope of the curve, which is exponential.
What the policy would be for this moment is to continue maintaining social isolation, personal hygiene, and social distancing habits, in addition to precautions in relation to municipal policies.
Any prospect of a peak, at least the data indicates, seems meaningless, the number of infections remains around a thousand daily deaths, and a #lockdown is no longer viable, as the virus has already spread and regional isolation does not mean pandemic control.
We will navigate through uncertainties, already tired of a long period of isolation and with an open and close policy that does not have much effective results, except to contain a greater contagion, without meaning any effective result of controlling the pandemic at the federation level.
The economic costs that would be great in the case of a #lockdown period, will now be higher because both the commerce and the services that effectively need face-to-face contact would not be justified to keep them disabled, and few services are non-essential.
The plan is to continue the so-called “social isolation”, whose more certain name in the Brazilian case we have already said, is “social distance” which is compatible with some open services.
The essential is therefore to maintain personal care and hope that the curve falls “naturally”.
Innocence, naivety and ignorance
03
Jul
In many situations we stumble on these three concepts as synonyms or close ones,
they are not, a child is innocence and does not know many subjects, but he is not ignorant, for his naivete he must be protected both by his parents and by any person of good character.
An adult can also be innocent in a certain situation because he was not part of or did not know a serious situation, he is not ignorant, but innocent even though some harm may have occurred due to his ingenuity in not realizing the seriousness or the consequences of an act.
Ignorance is militant, that is, even seeing and understanding the seriousness of a given situation, a conscious voluntary action commits or allows a serious act to be carried out, and some or many people or even serious situations can occur.
The pandemic exposed these three realities and one cannot fail to notice a disease with the severity of taking lives and whose defense is complex due to the lack of knowledge about the action and control of the coronavirus implies making decisions in defense of life that mitigate the number of deaths.
Just as it exposes the naivety of many people who do not take care of hygiene and prevention to minimize the contagion, exposing innocent people, but it is ignorance that worries most and can cause even more serious situations if it is not possible to stop neglect. Ignorance was used in history to manipulate innocent populations and often managed to lead many naive people to catastrophic situations, striking innocents and often leading to death and despair, this happened in wars and pandemics, the Spanish flu in the 1918s and 1919 killed 50 million people, an absurd number for the population at the time.
The biblical revelation in which the apostle Matthew (Mt 11.25) states that it was his father’s pleasure to reveal himself to the little ones and to hide the divine truths from the “wise and understanding”, must be understood in the context of belief in God.
God eternal knowledge and not about knowledge and temporal truths, because the following text is very clear (Mt 11: 26-27): “Yes, Father, because that was your pleasure. Verything was delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son, except the Father, and no one knows the Father, except the Son and the one to whom the Son wants to reveal him.
Using this passage to justify or defend ignorance is bad faith, in both senses, in the religious and in the moral sense.
It is not a cIt is not a crisis of thought alone
02
Jul
The crisis may seem like something too intellectual, thinking would be far from
the concrete reality of science, and thus from ordinary life, but its extension reaches the everyday science from statistics to medicine, from bibliometrics to biology and this can affect confidence in science and in In the spiritual field there is an immense openness to quackery and the manipulation of good faith.
This criticism questioned, for example, the fact-value dichotomy, emphasizing the social construction of facts, and can be traced back to the works of philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche and Edmund Husserl, with their rejection of science as a metaphysical substitute.
Stephen Toulmin was very articulate in his criticism of the Cartesian idea of rationality (1958), while the essence of the scientific method has been the subject of writings (and disputes) by authors such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend and Imre Lakatos.
The essence of the scientific method has been the subject of writings (and disputes) by authors such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend and Imre Lakatos, the echo of these disputes reaching the world of physics as the debate about string theories and their physical reality.
An interesting literature on the current crisis was the work of Derek of Solla Price “Little Science, Big Science” of 1963, he states that there is a point of saturation and senility, which was the result of the exponential growth he experienced in the 20th century.
Another more interesting work is the book by Jerome Ravetz “Scientific knowledge and its social problems”, which offers a critique of the myths of objectivity (it is our main object of this blog), and which asks about the solution of practical problems, that is , social.
In a recent work he recently argued Ravetz (2016) that “Applying a” scientific “methodology to science governance tasks leads directly to corruption, as any system can be at stake”, in another article, Ravetz (2011) defines the issue in terms of the “maturation of the structural contradictions of modern European society”.
The pandemic showed the inefficiency of both the medical field where “specialists” defend medicines that have not been proven effective and generate collateral problems, such as hydroxychloroquine and others (according to the magazine Veja (in section Saude), 69 medicines are tested: 18 are anticancer, 14 immunosuppressants, 13 antihypertensive drugs, 12 antiparasitic drugs and 12 anti-inflammatory drugs, and statistical treatment also hide the real results, as are the analyzes of the evolution of the pandemic in Brazil
References:
De Solla Price, D. J. (1963). Little science big science. Columbia University Press.
Ravetz, J. R. (1971). Scientific knowledge and its social problems. Oxford University Press.
Ravetz, J. (2008). Faith and reason in the mathematics of the credit crunch. The Oxford Magazine. Eight Week, Michaelmas term 14–16, Available online at http://www. pantaneto.co.uk/issue35/ravetz.htm.
Ravetz, J. R. (2011). Postnormal Science and the maturing of the structural contradictions of modern European science. Futures, 43, 142–148.
Ravetz, J. R. (2016). How should we treat science’s growing pains? The Guardian 8 June 2016.
Toulmin, S. E. (1958) The Uses of Argument, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Covid 19 in Brazil and the plateau
29
Jun
The analysis based on the number of infected cases is not feasible because
testing in Brazil is still small, done by companies or hospitals but only in cases where there is a suspicion of the need for hospitalization, and the estimate that 5% of deaths would correspond to the number of infected is not true because the isolation measures are different in several regions.
The plateau that started from the middle to the end of May has lengthened because the regions with the highest number of infected people were widening and in the case of Brazil going inland, called the epicenter, the name would be inappropriate if there was isolation, thus the contamination spread.
In addition to there being no isolation from the regions where infections started, which has been done in many countries since China where it started and the Wuhan region was epicenter, in this case the name is justified, both local measures and isolation regions were hard to contain the spread.
The second question is how to look at the graph and the numbers, the graph that at the beginning was an exponential and although it is necessary to look at making a logarithmic scale of the curve to see the degree of slope (for example, at the beginning, the number doubled every day and then every other day, etc.), now that the curve no longer has an exponential behavior, it is necessary to make the logarithm.
Looking at the logarithmic scale of the curve, the plateau is clearly perceived (graph above) and the numbers are rotating slightly above the thousand daily cases of death, the degree of infection as already said is not necessary, and thus it is perceived the plateau that has been going on for a month.
The reason was the initial analysis done here, with no isolation from the regions, the virus spread to more inland regions and the new “epicenter” is the interior of the country, and so it should continue into the month of July, either because of the ineffectiveness of isolation policies , or for the winter period
Corona virus: flexibilization and the endemic
22
Jun
Several countries in the world are preparing for a second wave of the corona
virus, Brazil has not left the first and seems to be stationed on a plateau around a thousand daily deaths, many analysts claim that Brazil is different due to its territorial extension, social inequality and density population, very well, but India and China too and control the infection with harsh measures.
Several specialists and infectologists point out that the flexibilization policy can be adopted if the possibility of reversion is admitted, that is, where the number of cases worsens returns to quarantine, but the depletion of the population after more than 100 days no longer allows.
Aline Dayrell, professor and coordinator of the UFMG (Brazilian Minas Gerais Federal University) Epidemiology course, says that we will only have total security if 70% becomes immune, see that the same indexes of social isolation are desired, and Prof. Carlos Fortaleza infectious disease at UNESP-Botucatu (Paulista State University) says the second wave is the possibility of any communicable disease, as long as the population is not immune.
India with more than 2 months in April, after the first case of infection had 800 and 27 thousand infected, being more populous than Brazil, but the numbers accelerated and 4 days ago it registered 2 thousand daily deaths, showing that even the measures harsh were not enough.
China and New Zealand, which apparently had controlled the corona virus, already admit that it is an endemic, that is, that it is not possible to completely eradicate the pandemic without a vaccine.
“The risk of spreading the epidemic is very high, so we must take resolute and decisive action,” said Xu Hejian, spokesman for the Beijing city government, the epicenter of the second wave of covid 19, in New Zealand. two people who came from the UK to attend a funeral, an exceptional case that the government admits and will review.
Post-truth time or hermeneutics
19
Jun
Hermeneutics is one that allows a worldview and an interpretation of different
facts, it does not mean manipulation of the truth, but exactly the unveiling of what ideologies and non-practical theories hide (there is no phronesis, practical wisdom).
What happens is that the search for the absolute spirit, the establishment of total truths was actually totalitarian, that is, they did not admit a different worldview, the dialog was simply linked to a pre-established truth, so there were truths a priori .
Knowledge for Immanuel Kant begins with experience, and reason would organize this matter according to its own forms, with the existing structures in knowledge, so information would be a way to organize the matter that comes from experience.
Although “a priori” is generally referred to as an adjective of knowledge, it is also used as an adjective to modify nouns, such as truth, so there would be truth a priori, and this is one of the tenets of idealism.
But the truth for centuries has remained veiled, it has always been established by certain forms of power, but this is the time when the truths begin to be revealed, not by journalists and controlled groups that are part of fans, but the armed crowd of photos and cell phones , cameras present in many surveillance places, but the big leap is awareness.
It is no coincidence that this is the great current topic, from philosophical hermeneutics, the question of historical consciousness that is no longer deterministic, romantic or dogmatic to the question of whether intelligent machines can be aware and ultimately “imitate” man .
For Christian culture this can go to another point, a time when the truth is revealed, according to the evangelist Matthew 10: 26-29:
“Do not be afraid of men, because there is nothing covered up that is not revealed, and there is nothing of hidden that is not known. What I say to you in the darkness, say it in the light of day; what you hear at the ear, proclaim it over the roofs! Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul! On the contrary, fear the one who can destroy the soul and the body in hell! ”.
Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, who is not a Christian, said that the pandemic put us “all on our knees”, I would say that not everyone still has those who do not admit the mystery beyond our ability to understand and among the religious those who are not yet knees, at least out of compassion for those who suffer.
Covid still advances in Brazil
15
Jun
The scourge of the pandemic that could have united Brazil now turns fear into terror, 
rates continue to advance even though the number of deaths remains on a plateau around 1,000 daily deaths, with up and down variations.
The result that gives a sentence now is the contamination rate per thousand inhabitants, and winter arrives in the country next week, cities that opened the trade start to retreat, shows a faltering policy between saving the economy or reducing the number of deaths, and the political struggle.
The polarization that has existed since the elections threatens to return with more radicality, there is no scenario that gives us hope, nor of reducing mortality, which should be a priority, nor of resolving the political crisis that could encourage and lead to a strong policy of social isolation.
Thus, the country is becoming the most critical case and contributes to an international isolation, those who wanted to save the economy have not yet understood that a serious policy to combat the covid would minimize economic results, save lives and perhaps unite a country that is increasingly divided. .
There is no lack of commentators at least malicious, I read from a famous media philosopher that afterwards there will be joy and euphoria, I would like to believe this, but as unemployment alone is already huge.
If there are no sensible minds and interested in saving lives (which also minimizes economic costs) we will navigate in confusing situations and that the data already show, there is no sign that the invite can retreat, we defended in early May the #lockdown, if it comes now it will come as a measure of despair, and without popular support, the 3 months of poor quarantine, exhausted the population’s spirits.
It is not a conflict caused by the media, by the opposition or by ideology, it is a lack of wisdom and wisdom, we put those who are at the forefront of the battle: doctors, nurses and rescuers, in addition to workers in essential services in a difficult situation, tired of us ask: stay at home, have not been heard.
The hope is that the disease itself stationed on the plateau of a thousand daily deaths will start to recede.
The exhaustion of humanism and co-immunity
12
Jun
When Peter Sloterdijk gave his lecture “rules for the human park” on July 17,
1999 in a colloquium dedicated to Heidegger and Lévinas, in the castle of Elmau in Bavaria, despite having theologians in the audience the greatest reaction was from the media, to affirming the emergence of an “anthropotechnical” and genetic manipulation, echoes were heard in France and also in Brazil where a report was published in the “Mais” section of the Daily Folha de São Paulo.
What the philosopher warned, in his language rich in metaphors to make his intricate philosophy clearer, stated that the work of human domestication had failed, in short this was his response to Heidegger’s Letter on Humanism, and his lecture would become book.
Then came other controversies, about ecology for example, he stated that “we will oscillate between a state of manic waste and depressive parsimony”, in a lecture entitled “about the fury of titans in the 21st century”, that is, between two opposing forces> minimalism and maximalism.
also spoke in that lecture on the decline of the concept of ethics: “… once came from a sense of obligation, virtue. Responsibility only becomes an important category when people do things whose consequences they cannot control ”and warns that the term responsibility is new in philosophy, also in the humanities.
In response to an interview with the newspaper El País, the philosopher who created the concept of co-immunity, said that the current situation will require “the need for a deeper practice of mutualism, that is, generalized mutual protection, as I say in Você Tem que Mudar Sua Vida ”, book without translation into Portuguese.
In addition to the need for what the current situation as a whole, which reveals a global imbalance from nature to the social, indicates that external factor.
Between philosophy and mysteries
09
Jun
The relationship between theology and philosophy has been lost for more
than 5 centuries, when some serious theologian decides to talk about philosophy it is to criticize it or to admit it uncritically and then he loses his faith.
I read the testimony of a former American Methodist pastor, who wrote: “I gave up Christianity because it affirms a lot and explains very little. We know so little about the Cosmos we’re floating in – our home is a solar system among trillions – but theologians brag and postulate about God, as if they have some way of knowing all of this, ”David Madison, Final Sermon in a Pandemic Team.
These are questions that many people ask, my spiritual experience always involved something that took my feet off the ground, although I strive to keep them there, I like critics of today’s religiosity, like Sloterdijk because they wake me up, and their disbelief in the The humanism of our time is a guide to my current issues, as in the pandemic and the problems that surround it.
When I think of conversion, I think first of mine and then of those who are with me on the walk and then of the “sleeping” Christians. we immersed ourselves in pericoresis, lent the text to some friends and they returned it to me with comments, I did my own pericoresis, my fusion of horizons.
And I had some answers that I didn’t imagine, one of them about what the future of humanism will be, we discovered in the middle of the pandemic solidarity as well as racism, domestic violence and the insensitivity of some in the face of the scourge, in the figure above The cross in the mountains by Caspar David Friedrich (ca 1812).
The answer and new question I found was in the reading of a text by Sloterdijk, which he calls an aortic relationship, is in the Matrix in grêmio: a mariological whim, he is not a theologian, alias he says that religions do not exist.
My question is the relation of the organic, all nature and humanity and from it the divine pericoresis, but founded on the human relationship, and as if he were a theologian, Sloterdijk answers in Digression 10 of the first volume of the Spheres Trilogy:
“Matris in gremio: A mariological whim” (page 556) in which the aortic interpenetration is combined with the organic in pregnancy, in Mary, of the Son of God, in which the two share the same spirit and the same blood, and both in Trinity and in the Virgin’s womb, interpenetration is surreal, in addition to pericoresis.
My question, what would happen if there was an aortic relationship, the organic in a real, lasting inorganic phenomenon, visible to every human being and not just to mystics? Of course this did not happen, but if it did?
SLOTERDIJK, P. (2014) Bubbles: Spheres Volume I: Microspherology. UK: Semiotext(e).
Brazil: incert future of pandemic
08
Jun
Problems with social isolation, difficulties to take tougher measures, now 
Brazil is plunging into an uncertain future: there is a lack of data, a clear policy and planning.
The official data will now depend on the seriousness of the regional Health Secretariats and the hard work of doctors and hospitals, and the planning of the responsibility of local authorities, at the most general level there is a proposal for a planned opening, but it may be disordered.
The available data indicate an increase during the week that passed over a thousand deaths reaching a peak of 1473, which retreated at the weekend to the level of a thousand deaths.
The curve we have drawn seems to reflect the scenario of instability, although lagged from 7 to 14 days, as deaths are the reflection of infections in the past days, they are the real data, because even if the degree of infection is falling below one , one person infects another, this does not mean that contagion and lethality have reduced, in the Brazilian case it is necessary to understand the internalization of the cases and the regional resources for the fight, as is the case of the Amazon and poor regions.
The pressure of the economic groups to open the market, the political uncertainty and the game of alliances that is made due to this scenario, take the focus of the pandemic and move to the political scenario, a sad picture for the country.
Despite large groups that carry out solidarity actions, the effort of doctors and nurses, the lesson we are drawing from this pandemic as a people is the worst possible, we are not fond of the simple people, not even with many deaths and the fatigue of almost 3 months of pandemic.
Some countries will emerge better from the pandemic as a nation, Brazil will not, we were unable to join forces, to be supportive nationally with the pains of a scourge and inconsistent with our love that we declare to the country, it remains for us to do our part and hope that the virus recedes
