The Berlin Files #83: robot beetles
Insect vs. robo-insect(!), the future of weddings, and much more on hopeful signals, quarantine life, and radical transformations.
Hey all, Eric here.
It occurred to me, while watching this real life beetle take out a robot beetle in an epic mano a mano battle, that this is what most of us would like to do with 2020.
But onward we must rock, so let’s do it.
Hopeful Signals, Quarantine Life, & Radical Transformations
Prevention Progress
I'm here for anything that makes mask adoption fun, cool, or interesting, and with that I'll let you make your own assessment of this.
Meanwhile, there are smart people working on preventing the next pandemic, which seems like a very smart thing indeed.
We need what Thomas Bollyky, director of CFR's global health program, terms a "sentinel network" in health care facilities around the world that can rapidly share data about any new diseases, as well as enhanced UN coordination to help ensure countries don't cover up outbreaks.
But of course, just as the old saying goes, "you need money to make money," there's the whole "you need to properly invest in order to prevent the next massive global pandemic” thing.
That will require funding of international health at a scale that currently doesn't exist — the WHO's entire $2.4 billion budget is less than some major U.S. hospitals, and less than 1% of total foreign aid for health goes to pandemic preparedness.
And then there's the whole "international cooperation is super critical to combat complex global challenges" and all.
Some 156 nations have joined a global scheme for fair distribution of future vaccines against COVID-19, an alliance led by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, but superpowers China and the United States did not sign up.
Maybe a different U.S. administration would be more interested in displaying global leadership in a way that helps both the United States and the rest of the world at the same time. Maybe we'll soon see.
Speaking of leadership and policies, new COVID cases are on the rise in Europe once again, sadly. Anthony Costello, a former director of the World Health Organization, lays out four different potential options that involve a mix of "local lockdowns" versus varying types of "circuit breaker" widespread lockdowns.
I'm in no way qualified to comment on which option might be best in combating the spread of COVID, but my main takeaway is that what's critical is to have governments with strong leadership working in concert with the brightest minds in science, medicine, and public health to implement policies, track their progress, and adroitly adjust as needed with the active cooperation and support of everyone.
Not easy to be sure. But necessary.
The Future of... Weddings
This pair of tweets got me to thinking about weddings, and particularly the future of weddings in a post-pandemic world.
Everyone knows that weddings are hideously overpriced and often put couples in a massive amount of debt. But we do it and put up with it and even embrace it in some ways because... well, we all have our reasons, right?
But what if it became more common to not necessarily opt into all of that? This is one of many ways that the massive disruption of the pandemic will have all kinds of ripples across our lives for generations to come.
Another institution that we all agree is hideously overpriced and that often puts young people in massive -- and in some cases life-long -- debt? Higher education. But that's a topic for another edition of the Files.
Quarantining
I'm pretty sure this TikTok video makes some kind of statement about life in 2020, post-advertising, post-art, or something but I'm not yet able to quite make the connections. I'll invite you instead to just kick back and enjoy.
The Comedy Club
Dana Carvey is a national treasure, and his impersonation of Jimmy Stewart absolutely crushes. (For much more of this, I highly recommend listening to his appearances on Conan O'Brien's podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend). And there's just something about this moment that makes his old school riff on It's A Wonderful Life absolutely wonderful (and oddly satisfying, even?).
The Music Club
I've been bingeing out on Rolling Stone's updated Top 500 albums of all time list of late and having a blast while doing it.
I was surprised at how much I responded to a lot of the singer songwriter-y selections. A great example is Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, which is incredible end-to-end.
Election 2020
And good piece, this.
Climate Watch
Tweets of the Week
It's a Wrap!
You made it. Now get back to watching Minotaur take on Bombshell.
Also:
Support The Berlin Files: buy me a cup of coffee, only if you want to. I'll use the money to support local coffee shops here in Seattle.
Once upon a time, I wrote a book about the TV show Mad Men. If you're a fan of the show, my writing, or that era of U.S. history, give it a check out.
E-mail me. I get it here: eric@forwerdmedia.com.
Social media for a socially distanced world: Twitter | LinkedIn
And one last time…