I'm at TED 2023 in Vancouver as I write this. I’m feeling incredulous. Even with everything I already knew and believed and had seen, it's honestly still hard for me to process just how much no one wants to think about global health. Not just in terms of the logistics. I expected the masks and the testing and the sanitizers to be gone. And they are. But even the intellectual focus is gone. Last year, we had Bill Gates. We had a whole exhibit on pandemic prevention.
I have 36 days left in China. I had my third shot of Sinovac in December 2021 and Covid in December 2022 (along with 80% or more of people in China). They won't give you a booster if you have had Covid in the last 6 months nor can you sign up to get an mRNA vaccine in Hong Kong until 6 months have passed. A friend visited me last weekend on her way to the USA from a business trip to India. She gave me a box of Paxlovid. I'm hoping I make it to Canada and can get a proper vaccine without catching Covid again first but it's reassuring to have the Paxlovid if I don't.
A thought, just a thought... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em? Maybe find ways to use AI to game out the next pandemic? (Now who's sexy? You sexy thing you.)
I have 36 days left in China. I had my third shot of Sinovac in December 2021 and Covid in December 2022 (along with 80% or more of people in China). They won't give you a booster if you have had Covid in the last 6 months nor can you sign up to get an mRNA vaccine in Hong Kong until 6 months have passed. A friend visited me last weekend on her way to the USA from a business trip to India. She gave me a box of Paxlovid. I'm hoping I make it to Canada and can get a proper vaccine without catching Covid again first but it's reassuring to have the Paxlovid if I don't.
Ooof I’m sorry (and maybe not surprised?) :/
A thought, just a thought... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em? Maybe find ways to use AI to game out the next pandemic? (Now who's sexy? You sexy thing you.)
There are a lot of use cases for AI, for sure. Epidemiology is ripe for it.
However, I am not convinced any of them outweigh the multiplier effect that AI can have on violence. This report on AI and its use by terrorist actors gets into some of it: https://unicri.it/News/Algorithms-Terrorism-Malicious-Use-Artificial-Intelligence-Terrorist-Purposes