Comments for Vital Systems Security http://72.10.34.174/vss An ARC Collaboration Thu, 20 May 2010 03:21:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on Tiny, tiny security by Melissa Schud|nanotechnology http://72.10.34.174/vss/2007/01/tiny-tiny-security/comment-page-1/#comment-62513 Melissa Schud|nanotechnology Thu, 20 May 2010 03:21:29 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/2007/01/tiny-tiny-security/#comment-62513 Hmmm.Does this tiny security still exist nowadays? Hmmm.Does this tiny security still exist nowadays?

]]> Comment on Updated H1N1 Severity by Experience No Interference by Using Hearing Aid Compatible Cell Phones | First aid kit http://72.10.34.174/vss/2010/02/updated-h1n1-severity/comment-page-1/#comment-57230 Experience No Interference by Using Hearing Aid Compatible Cell Phones | First aid kit Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:47:40 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=487#comment-57230 [...] Vital Systems Security » Blog Archive » Updated H1N1 Severity [...] [...] Vital Systems Security » Blog Archive » Updated H1N1 Severity [...]

]]> Comment on The Next Pandemic by rolando esteban http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/12/the-next-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-56912 rolando esteban Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:48:15 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=478#comment-56912 The idea of "pandemic" is a creation, a claim, to which many experts play a role. By experts I mean epidemiologists, the WHO, and a lot of actors from the health sector, etc. Whatever pandemic may strike a region on earth next time, we can expect the same claims-making by experts. The problem with claim-making is that it changes, sometimes, on a day to day basis, which only creates and adds to the confusions of the day. The reliance on metrics (its prevalence, for example) is always reactive. Pandemics are "man-made" and therefore always difficult to predict, especially that behavior is so variable even on the village level. 'Preemptive measures," e.g. preparations, can accomplish only so much because pandemics are always due to new strains. Added to this is the "scare" effect that experts purvey, take H1N1 for example. The panic over it was in large measure due to the claims by experts, none of which was as "correct' as they claimed them to be. The idea of “pandemic” is a creation, a claim, to which many experts play a role. By experts I mean epidemiologists, the WHO, and a lot of actors from the health sector, etc. Whatever pandemic may strike a region on earth next time, we can expect the same claims-making by experts. The problem with claim-making is that it changes, sometimes, on a day to day basis, which only creates and adds to the confusions of the day. The reliance on metrics (its prevalence, for example) is always reactive. Pandemics are “man-made” and therefore always difficult to predict, especially that behavior is so variable even on the village level. ‘Preemptive measures,” e.g. preparations, can accomplish only so much because pandemics are always due to new strains. Added to this is the “scare” effect that experts purvey, take H1N1 for example. The panic over it was in large measure due to the claims by experts, none of which was as “correct’ as they claimed them to be.

]]> Comment on Updated H1N1 Severity by Nick Shapiro http://72.10.34.174/vss/2010/02/updated-h1n1-severity/comment-page-1/#comment-56161 Nick Shapiro Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:39:23 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=487#comment-56161 thanks for that Lyle, I've been working on asthma since I did that animal biosecurity post right as h1n1 broke out. it's unfortunate, but interesting, to see that the two research threads (biosecurity & increases in global asthma severity) intertwine. i've forwarded this on to my asthma working group. thanks for the heads up! thanks for that Lyle, I’ve been working on asthma since I did that animal biosecurity post right as h1n1 broke out. it’s unfortunate, but interesting, to see that the two research threads (biosecurity & increases in global asthma severity) intertwine. i’ve forwarded this on to my asthma working group. thanks for the heads up!

]]> Comment on Swine Flu (Redux) by Cirinn Yarthorpe http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/04/swine-flu-redux/comment-page-1/#comment-55197 Cirinn Yarthorpe Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:06:38 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=342#comment-55197 Verification is awaited late today for the foremost example of to someone person carry-over of swine influenza in the UK. It is thought to be a friend of Lain and Dawn Askham, who were the first affirmed victims in the UK and they assembled subsequently after their homecoming from honeymoon in United Mexican States. at the start the man was cleared but later on his symptoms carried on he was re examined and was found to be suffering from Type A flu. Examinations are still in progress but are likely to confirm swine influenza. This at once takes the complete number of swine influenza sufferers in the United Kingdom to 8 -that is 6 in England 2 in Scotland but thus far no deceases. Verification is awaited late today for the foremost example of to someone person carry-over of swine influenza in the UK. It is thought to be a friend of Lain and Dawn Askham, who were the first affirmed victims in the UK and they assembled subsequently after their homecoming from honeymoon in United Mexican States. at the start the man was cleared but later on his symptoms carried on he was re examined and was found to be suffering from Type A flu. Examinations are still in progress but are likely to confirm swine influenza. This at once takes the complete number of swine influenza sufferers in the United Kingdom to 8 -that is 6 in England 2 in Scotland but thus far no deceases.

]]> Comment on Cold and Modernization Risk in Tajikistan by neweurasia.net » Tajikistan: Hunger to Replace Cold and Darkness http://72.10.34.174/vss/2008/02/cold-and-modernization-risk-in-tajikistan/comment-page-1/#comment-53784 neweurasia.net » Tajikistan: Hunger to Replace Cold and Darkness Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:12:11 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/2008/02/cold-and-modernization-risk-in-tajikistan/#comment-53784 [...] opines on the BBC report saying that Tajikistan is already facing the catastrophe: It’s not just the [...] [...] opines on the BBC report saying that Tajikistan is already facing the catastrophe: It’s not just the [...]

]]> Comment on Situation Awareness in Public Health by Lori http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/07/situation-awareness-in-public-health/comment-page-1/#comment-51626 Lori Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:26:30 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=456#comment-51626 We all face these two problems daily. Situational awareness and information pollution. How do you know what you need to know to work and live better. And at the same time not experience a cognitive overload of either too much or untrustworthy knowledge? This is especially important in the case of health care. The key is to gather the right information ( but not too much), being able to objectively analyze it, and make projections based on the analysis. It means being able to do something useful with the information. We all face these two problems daily. Situational awareness and information pollution. How do you know what you need to know to work and live better. And at the same time not experience a cognitive overload of either too much or untrustworthy knowledge? This is especially important in the case of health care.

The key is to gather the right information ( but not too much), being able to objectively analyze it, and make projections based on the analysis. It means being able to do something useful with the information.

]]> Comment on The Next Pandemic by Lyle Fearnley http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/12/the-next-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-51222 Lyle Fearnley Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:45:26 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=478#comment-51222 This is complementary to the previous discussion in interesting ways. Two modes of thinking employed by experts throughout the pandemic, and fundamental to public health as it operates today, are 1) prediction and 2) what an informant called "induction". By induction, he meant the emphasis on basing public health action on more and better information. Thus, at the H1N1 conference in Beijing this summer, Margaret Chan from video-feed opened the proceedings by saying "What we need now is information". The problem with this mode of thinking, as the informant argued to me, is that it can never guide action to an unexpected future event, which is precisely what is possible with an emerging disease. No matter how much information we have about the past experience with this virus, or previous flu viruses, it may not provide the proper guidance. Prediction is then a complementary mode that provides answers to questions about the future. But as we have argued before, preparedness is not prediction. Action in the present based on 'preparedness' relies on a metric distinct from both the accuracy of prognostication and the authority of information. What this metric is needs further specification. This is complementary to the previous discussion in interesting ways. Two modes of thinking employed by experts throughout the pandemic, and fundamental to public health as it operates today, are 1) prediction and 2) what an informant called “induction”. By induction, he meant the emphasis on basing public health action on more and better information. Thus, at the H1N1 conference in Beijing this summer, Margaret Chan from video-feed opened the proceedings by saying “What we need now is information”. The problem with this mode of thinking, as the informant argued to me, is that it can never guide action to an unexpected future event, which is precisely what is possible with an emerging disease. No matter how much information we have about the past experience with this virus, or previous flu viruses, it may not provide the proper guidance. Prediction is then a complementary mode that provides answers to questions about the future. But as we have argued before, preparedness is not prediction. Action in the present based on ‘preparedness’ relies on a metric distinct from both the accuracy of prognostication and the authority of information. What this metric is needs further specification.

]]> Comment on The Next Pandemic by Carlo Caduff http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/12/the-next-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-50920 Carlo Caduff Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:46:50 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=478#comment-50920 ... yes, that's Luhmann's argument. The failure of scientific prediction makes it not necessarily useless, on the contrary. As to a): Inquiry as a way of engaging the recent past? The re-emerging rhetoric of the next pandemic is increasingly blocking such inquiry. … yes, that’s Luhmann’s argument. The failure of scientific prediction makes it not necessarily useless, on the contrary.

As to a): Inquiry as a way of engaging the recent past? The re-emerging rhetoric of the next pandemic is increasingly blocking such inquiry.

]]> Comment on The Next Pandemic by Stephen Collier http://72.10.34.174/vss/2009/12/the-next-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-50917 Stephen Collier Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:36:06 +0000 http://anthropos-lab.net/vss/?p=478#comment-50917 Carlo -- Isn't the implication of what you are saying that: (a) there may not be a way to "inhabit the past in some meaningful way"? (b) that accurate prognostication cannot and should not be the norm of legitimate expertise in this game? Carlo — Isn’t the implication of what you are saying that: (a) there may not be a way to “inhabit the past in some meaningful way”? (b) that accurate prognostication cannot and should not be the norm of legitimate expertise in this game?

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