scholarly journals L’enfer c’est les autres? The effects of COVID-19 virus on interpersonal trust

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Gambetta ◽  
Davide Morisi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Job Loss ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Future ◽  
Experimental Findings

Does the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic affect interpersonal trust? While most evidence shows that natural threats reinforce trust and cooperation, the COVID-19 virus differs from other calamities since it spreads through contact with people, thus potentially increasing mistrust and suspicion towards human beings. We in-vestigate the link between exposure to COVID-19 and trust in strangers by conducting a survey experiment with a representative sample of adults in Italy, one the countries that has been worst affected by the outbreak of the virus. Contrary to intuitive expectations, we find that those who report COVID-19 symptoms and those who live in the municipalities that have been worst affected by the virus trust strangers substantially more than their rela-tive counterparts. In addition, our experimental findings reveal that the risk that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to our health in the future leads to a substantial increase in trust in strangers. The risk that the pandemic poses to our livelihood, in terms of job loss and economic recession, also leads to a smaller increase in trust in strangers, while solidarity appeals and knowledge of people with COVID-19 symptoms within a close circle of relatives, friends and colleagues have no effects on trust. These findings, we suggest, could be explained by adapting the “emancipation theory of trust” to the context of natural disasters, conjecturing that when caught in catastrophes people become more dependent on other people’s support.

Urbanization Violence to Nature

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Aslı Güneş Gölbey ◽  
Ayşenur Kaylı
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sustainable Lifestyle ◽  
The Future ◽  
Production Areas ◽  
The City

With the uncontrollable population growth in the cities, the rising need for settlement has increased the needs of the cities, as well as making the cities consumption centres. The housing intensity of urbanization were damaged at first, then the farms and agricultural production areas in the city periphery, and then it directly affected the natural resources such as air, water, soil, flora, and fauna. However, nature did not remain unresponsive to these events and responded to human beings with various natural disasters. Eventually, the human violence on nature has turned into the abuse nature exerts on human beings, with disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, and fire as a kind of revenge of nature. The future of humanity becomes dependent on reconciliation with nature and adaptation to a sustainable lifestyle. This chapter examines the violence between human nature and urbanization with its causes and possible consequences and offers reconciliation suggestions for a sustainable life.

scholarly journals Thinking of Disasters

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Minoru Matsuo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Human Life ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Peace Of Mind ◽  
Physical Defense ◽  
The Future ◽  
Second Category

What people desire most in life is freedom from anxiety, peace of mind in a trustworthy environment, and life in a spiritually rich environment. Among the basic prerequisites for peace of mind are safety and security. Threats to safety and security fall into two categories: 1) The first involves artificial, intentionally created events, typified by war. The element differentiating such events as war from disaster is the presence of intent – in this case, to kill or injure the enemy. In contrast, damage caused by unilateral violence such as terrorism – one-sided violence against innocent people having no intent to fight – is qualified as a disaster. 2) The second category involves disasters caused by natural factors and, in the case of artificially created events, an element lacking intent and unexpected from the viewpoint of the state-of-the-art, inadvertently involving good will. We are concerned here with the second rather than the first category. Typical of the first half of the second category are natural disasters. When I confronts natural disasters, I invariably encounter the cognition of a deeprooted principle, which is that Nature is beyond human elements. Despite the oft-stated saying that “Man shall impose mastery of Nature,” such a stance is far outside the envelope. Instead of such a stance, we should, if possible, make a plea to be loved by Nature, but surely this is a figment of human egoism. The best path for human beings to take is to do their utmost, seeking Nature’s understanding of our endeavors to be freed from the deadly penalties exacted by Nature. The above path limits the basic method and way of thinking against natural disasters to “disaster mitigation.” Disaster mitigation roughly falls into two approaches. The first involves the construction of new structures or the improvement of existing ones, i.e., physical defense against natural elements. The human inability to predict the future – and natural disasters – prevents us from preparing everything against the disaster with this method, viz., “God only knows.” What we can do is to prepare for potential disaster probabilistically, constructing structures that, at least temporarily, mitigate maximum disaster. The second approach involves preparation of an “observational disaster-mitigation system.” In other words, predicting potential disasters prior to their actual occurrence by applying observations and knowledge from past disasters in order to mitigate damages, or constructing and implementing a “disaster-mitigation system” using all possible measures including evacuation before actual events attack residential area. Regarding the occurrence of nonmalicious artificial events – the second category of threats to safety mentioned above – examples include the hazards caused by chemicals, food, and construction materials that are potentially lethal to those exposed to them. Man may not be perfect, being unable to in prepare completely against such suffering. It has occurred in the past and will surely occur in the future. For such disasters and their mitigation, we must clarify their effects from the viewpoint of human studies centering on law and ethics in addition to the technological viewpoint. In the case of marketing of new products and new technology, for example, it is natural that inspection from different angles should be made, and that doubled and tripled efforts be taken to avoid fatal damage such as loss of human life. Behind this, persons concerned must be aware that human beings – small existence compared to Nature – enter unknown world tremblingly. It is excellent to inaugurate the accumulation of knowledge on disasters from as wide a viewpoint as possible, not restricting action to natural disasters alone. I express congratulations from my heart and look forward to reading many contributions on advanced achievements that may lead to peace of mind for people potentially affected by disasters and their mitigation.

Cooperation Between Developing and Industrialized Countries in Disaster Relief

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-27
Author(s):  
Jurgen Weyand
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
World Population ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Full Account ◽  
International Assistance ◽  
The Future

A disaster may be defined, for this paper, as “a situation in which an urgent need arises for international assistance to relieve humansuffering.” Disasters are frequently divided into manmade and natural disasters. Many so-called natural disasters have, however, a considerable manmade component in their etiology. The number of people vulnerable to the effects of disasters is increasing, and in the future disasters affecting human beings are likely to occur with greater frequency and severity, Full account must also be taken of the effects of a rapidly expanding world population, of advances in science and technology, and of economic and ecological factors.

Adaptations of Time Travel Narratives in Japanese Multimedia: Nurturing Eudaimonia across Time and Space

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Ae Lee
Keyword(s):  
Travel Narratives ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
The Future ◽  
Live Action

To displace a character in time is to depict a character who becomes acutely conscious of his or her status as other, as she or he strives to comprehend and interact with a culture whose mentality is both familiar and different in obvious and subtle ways. Two main types of time travel pose a philosophical distinction between visiting the past with knowledge of the future and trying to inhabit the future with past cultural knowledge, but in either case the unpredictable impact a time traveller may have on another society is always a prominent theme. At the core of Japanese time travel narratives is a contrast between self-interested and eudaimonic life styles as these are reflected by the time traveller's activities. Eudaimonia is a ‘flourishing life’, a life focused on what is valuable for human beings and the grounding of that value in altruistic concern for others. In a study of multimodal narratives belonging to two sets – adaptations of Tsutsui Yasutaka's young adult novella The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Yamazaki Mari's manga series Thermae Romae – this article examines how time travel narratives in anime and live action film affirm that eudaimonic living is always a core value to be nurtured.

A Rapture of the Nerds? A Comparison between Transhumanist Eschatology and Christian Parousia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-367
Author(s):  
Roberto Paura
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Point Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe

Transhumanism is one of the main “ideologies of the future” that has emerged in recent decades. Its program for the enhancement of the human species during this century pursues the ultimate goal of immortality, through the creation of human brain emulations. Therefore, transhumanism offers its fol- lowers an explicit eschatology, a vision of the ultimate future of our civilization that in some cases coincides with the ultimate future of the universe, as in Frank Tipler’s Omega Point theory. The essay aims to analyze the points of comparison and opposition between transhumanist and Christian eschatologies, in particular considering the “incarnationist” view of Parousia. After an introduction concern- ing the problems posed by new scientific and cosmological theories to traditional Christian eschatology, causing the debate between “incarnationists” and “escha- tologists,” the article analyzes the transhumanist idea of mind-uploading through the possibility of making emulations of the human brain and perfect simulations of the reality we live in. In the last section the problems raised by these theories are analyzed from the point of Christian theology, in particular the proposal of a transhuman species through the emulation of the body and mind of human beings. The possibility of a transhumanist eschatology in line with the incarnationist view of Parousia is refused.

Dimensi Edukatif pada Kisah-Kisah Al-Qur'an

SUHUF ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Novita Siswayanti
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Text ◽  
The Future

The stories in Qur'an are Allah’s decrees which convey more beau-tiful values beyond any religious text ever written. It is the holiest scripture and is written  in a wonderful, understandable, and attract-ive language humbly conveying a vast amount of information about life and events that happened in the past. It’s aim is to be an object of reflection for human beings living in this age and the future. Even more so, the stories in Al-Qur'an also entail an educative function providing learning materials,  and teaching methods, regarding the transformative power of Islam and the internalization of true religious values.

scholarly journals The Australian labour market in 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110022
Author(s):  
Elisa Birch ◽  
Alison Preston
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Older People ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Job Loss ◽  
Food Services ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
The Future

This article provides a review of the Australian labour market in 2020. It outlines the monetary and fiscal responses to COVID-19 (including JobKeeper, JobSeeker and JobMaker policies), describes trends in employment, unemployment and underemployment and summarises the Fair Work Commission’s 2020 minimum wage decision. Data show that in the year to September 2020, total monthly hours worked fell by 5.9% for males and 3.8% for females. Job loss was proportionately larger amongst young people (aged 20–29) and older people. It was also disproportionately higher in female-dominated sectors such as Accommodation and Food Services. Unlike the earlier recession (1991), when more than 90% of jobs lost were previously held by males, a significant share (around 40%) of the job loss in the 2020 recession (year to August 2020) were jobs previously held by females. Notwithstanding a pick-up in employment towards year’s end, the future remains uncertain.

scholarly journals Reputation offsets trust judgments based on social biases among Airbnb users

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (37) ◽  
pp. 9848-9853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Abrahao ◽  
Paolo Parigi ◽  
Alok Gupta ◽  
Karen S. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Reputation Systems ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Independent Population ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
The Common ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Social Biases

To provide social exchange on a global level, sharing-economy companies leverage interpersonal trust between their members on a scale unimaginable even a few years ago. A challenge to this mission is the presence of social biases among a large heterogeneous and independent population of users, a factor that hinders the growth of these services. We investigate whether and to what extent a sharing-economy platform can design artificially engineered features, such as reputation systems, to override people’s natural tendency to base judgments of trustworthiness on social biases. We focus on the common tendency to trust others who are similar (i.e., homophily) as a source of bias. We test this argument through an online experiment with 8,906 users of Airbnb, a leading hospitality company in the sharing economy. The experiment is based on an interpersonal investment game, in which we vary the characteristics of recipients to study trust through the interplay between homophily and reputation. Our findings show that reputation systems can significantly increase the trust between dissimilar users and that risk aversion has an inverse relationship with trust given high reputation. We also present evidence that our experimental findings are confirmed by analyses of 1 million actual hospitality interactions among users of Airbnb.

scholarly journals DINAMIKA PENYINTAS MENJADI RELAWAN

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-44
Author(s):  
Indah Ahdiah
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
The City

AbstrakThis study aims to determine the background and motivating factors for survivors to become local volunteers in the earthquake, tsunami and liquefaction natural disasters that occurred on September 28 in the city of Palu. The method used is a qualitative method with a case study approach. The results of the study showed that being a survivor's background in volunteering was a position as a board or member of Muhammadiyah, and there was also an interest in MDMC work. The driving factors (1) imply the meaning of Al Maun, be useful human beings, (2) as an act of gratitude, (3) an expression of gratitude for the opportunity of life given by God, (4) working as a volunteer becomes one of the ways to restore emotions.Keywords : survivor, volunteer, humanitarian organizations

scholarly journals GENETINIS DISKURSAS MEDIJŲ KULTŪROJE: GUNDYMAS PREKINIU NEMIRTINGUMU

Problemos ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Vytautas Rubavičius
Keyword(s):  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Private Property ◽  
World View ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Proper Form ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Universe

Straipsnyje grindžiama nuomonė, jog postmodernybė yra iš modernybės kylantis kapitalizmo sistemos būvis, kuriam būdinga gyvybės suprekinimas ir suišteklinimas. Postmodernybę charakterizuoja populiariosios ir medijų kultūros išplitimas. Tos kultūros apima ne tik kultūros prekes, bet ir vartojimo būdus, įgūdžius ir jų lavinimą. Pastaruoju metu jos kuria nemirtingumo vaizdiniams bei nuojautoms palankią kultūrinę, intelektinę ir pasaulėvaizdinę terpę, kurioje struktūriškai įsitvirtina genetinis diskursas ir jo nustatomos žmogaus ir jo gyvenamo pasaulio aiškinimo gairės. Svarbus šio diskurso bruožas yra technologinis inžinerinis jo pobūdis, išryškėjęs susiejant nano ir biotechnologijas, kuriomis tikimasi įveikti gyvąją ir negyvąją gamtą skiriančią prarają, iš reikalingų atomų bei molekulių kuriant reikalingų ląstelių dalis ir klonuojant gyvas būtybes. Gyvybė suprekinama ir suišteklinama patentuojant gyvybės elementus – genus ir su jais susijusius procesus. Daroma išvada, jog visi genetikos, informatikos ir kitų mokslų laimėjimai, teikiantys žmogaus gyvenimo ilginimo galimybių, kurios palaiko gundančią nemirtingumo idėją, jau yra persmelkti prekinių santykių, tad ir pats nemirtingumas įmanomas tik kaip prekė. Aptariami kai kurie evoliuciniai ir religiniai techno sapiens sampratos aspektai. Detaliau gvildenamos dvi „nemirtingumo“ versijos: Z. Baumano, kuris nemirtingumo pažadą sieja su kompiuterinės technikos plėtra prasidėjus „Antrajai medijų erai“, ir J. Baudrillard’o, tegiančio, jog klonavimo technologijos „apgręžia“ evoliuciją ir žmogų gundo virusiniu ar vėžiniu belyčiu nemirtingumu.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: genetinis diskursas, klonavimas, medijų kultūra, nanobiotechnologijos, nemirtingumas, suprekinimas.Genetic Discourse in Media Culture: Temptation by Commodified ImmoralityVytautas Rubavičius   SummaryPostmodernity is maintained as a stage of the development of capitalism. The difference between modernity and postmodernity is explained in relation to the new sphere of commodification and resourcification, namely, that of life and of all natural living processes. Postmodern media culture, or popular culture, is peopled by signs of immortality and various kinds of immortals – cyborgs, clones, zombies, immortal human beings and others. Thus, culture accustoms a consumer to immortals and immortality which is concidered as the main goal of a human being and evolution. By nano-bio-technologies and genetic discourse this goal is made scientifically valid, thus reachable. Genetic discourse is becoming the fundamental world-view providing focal landmarks for the emerging future. Media culture supports the spreading of genetic discourse and facilitates its understanding. The temptation by immortality can be considered as a version of modernist ideology of human liberation from various natural, social and heavenly bonds. This liberation, and also secularization, is supported by a scientific genetic technological discourse which is becoming a stimulating factor of postmodern media production. The genetic explanation of the world is particularly handy for technological reflexivity: the entire world is as if encapsulated into human genes, which become the principle explaining the mystery of life, evolution and the future of humanity, thus rendering power to produce the human proper form and the future of people. All the possibilities stemming from the new genetic and biotech discoveries fell under the regulation of property relations by patenting, thus making “immortality” – as a temptation and brand – not only an exeptional commodity, but also a political tool and a commodifying force. As the relationships of private property have penetrated natural biogenetic diversity and, having turned it into a resource, the cognitive subject has reached the goal to secularise the Universe, which he has set for himself: only he as the owner and producer of genes lures people with the eternal shapes of the clones and their genetic information, which will be sustained in any location of the Universe. The temptation by “immortality” will become even stronger when the genetic code is mastered. The future of humanity is related to the mixed forms of life, trans-genic or otherwise genetically modified organisms and techno-human forms that will help to postpone, and later to conquer, death. Even thinkers with religious tendencies perceive the technological improvement of human beings as their evolution towards the techno sapiens and consider such a development as an advancement towards the Kingdom of God. The technologization of human beings is imagined in terms of their divination. Yet in this case the character of contemporary science secularising God and obliterating the perception of divinity is overlooked. Two versions of immortality are analyzed more closely – that of Z. Bauman, who links it with the development of computer technologies, and that of J. Baudrillard, who gives a warning that by cloning technologies humanity is trying to inverse the evolution and to return to the undifferentiated state of cells. The conclusion is drawn that regardless of how we understand ‘immortality,’ argue over its reality or unreality, all possibilities to prolong human life granted by genetics, informatics and other advances in science and technologies, which support the tempting idea of immortality, have already been penetrated by commodity relationships; therefore, “immortality” itself will be available only as a commodity.Keywords: cloning, commodification, genetic discourse, immortality, media culture, nano-bio-technologies.

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