adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Tech

Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' was written 300 years ago. Its parallels to today are striking – National Post

Published

5 years ago

 on


The first time I read Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year was in 2002, two years before the SARS outbreak. It was an eerily prescient bit of browsing — I don’t generally pick up 18th-century literature — and a strange glass through which to view the uncertainty of those days. Two weeks ago, I made the decision to have a quick re-read. 

Defoe’s book, technically a historical novel but regarded by many as a work of non-fiction, was published in 1722, when the author was 62. Its full title tells you everything you need to know about it: “A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, as well Publick as Private, Which Happened in London During the Last Great Visitation in 1665.” Defoe would have been just a toddler when the plague swept through his city, but he did copious research for his book, which includes tables of casualties and numerous anecdotes, though many of them are openly questioned by the author. 

The plague was of course the bubonic plague or Black Death, which killed an estimated quarter of London’s population in just 18 months. It ravaged Europe through the 14th century, killing about a third of the population; the London outbreak was relatively local. This was the period that gave us the Italian phrase quaranta giorni — we now say “quarantine” — to describe the 40 days that ships were required to be isolated to avoid spreading disease from one port to another. Travel advisories are nothing new.


The Triumph of Death by artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, circa 1562.

To be clear, we are nowhere near the kind of situation that gripped the Western world centuries ago, nor will we be. But it’s strange to hear echoes of that earlier crisis in today’s headlines.

Here’s Defoe quoting those who insisted on working through the outbreak: “What must I do? I can’t starve. I had as good have the plague as perish for want.” And this is Mario Monfreda, a restaurateur in Rome, on Italy’s lockdown last week: “This will reduce us to nothing … More people are going to die as a result of the economic crisis that this lockdown is going to cause than the virus itself.” Defoe’s scenes of people fleeing London also recall Italians hurrying to travel before the trains stopped running.

Or take Defoe’s description of sham cures: “Infallible preventive pills against the plague.” “Antipestilential pills.” “Incomparable drink against the plague, never found out before.” They fit right in alongside a recent sham/spam in my email inbox, from a “Dr. Tal Zaks, MD & PhD,” promising: “pure & confirmed coronavirus vaccine,” which apparently the government has not wanted to make public.

Not every comparison is so dire. If you’re a fan of the “Bring out your dead” sketch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you should know that an early version appears in Defoe’s book, almost three centuries earlier.

He tells the story of a piper who passed out drunk, was loaded into the dead-cart, and then woke up. He quotes one John Hayward: “Lord, bless us! There’s somebody in the cart not quite dead!” The unnamed piper asks: “I an’t dead though, am I?” Defoe says this “made them laugh a little, though, as John said, they were heartily frighted at first,” and concludes: “I am fully satisfied of the truth of (the tale).”

It can be heartbreaking at times to read Defoe’s words with modern eyes. In one passage he ridicules those who declared the plague to be a “stroke from Heaven,” yet in the same sentence he talks of the “manifest ignorance” of those “who talk of infection being carried on by the air only, by carrying with it vast numbers of insects and invisible creatures.” It’s close to the scientific truth, yet at the time it was just one fringe theory among others.

And therein lies the calming effect of this old story. Not to scoff at the late-medieval world, but it’s easy to see how much more prepared we are in the 21st-century for this new pandemic. And yet there is one more parallel: They survived their travails, and we shall endure ours. And when it’s all over, someone will write a smashing book about it.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Tech

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

7 days ago

 on

November 6, 2024

By

 

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

3 weeks ago

 on

October 24, 2024

By

 

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

3 weeks ago

 on

October 24, 2024

By

 

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending