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Come on kids, let's get back to normal! (But listen: if gran dies, it's your fault) | Joel Golby

Matt Hancock has teed up the next instalment of the Covid blame game by preemptively accusing the young of senicide, says author Joel Golby

What is this article saying? The government (or the society?) should think about young people more?

If so, to change the current situation, more young people should go to vote. Do you think the politicians are considerate about the elderly because of their moral conscience? If you ask me, I would say, partly yes but mainly they do so because they just count how many votes they could gain. If they think young generation’s votes are crucial to them, they would start to think about students more.

I think older people should decline their relatives’ visit, if they truly love their children and grandchildren.

If you visit your grandfather to console him and he dies because of the coronavirus you has brought in, you could never ever forgive yourself. No matter how much people around you say that it is not your fault, you would have to live with the trauma for the rest of your life. To avoid such a tragedy, both sides of us should stay away.

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Coronavirus: France to make face masks mandatory in most workplaces

The new rule is set to apply to shared spaces in offices and factories and comes as infections rise.

France set a rule which forces people to wear masks in working places unless you are alone there. Wearing masks can help prevent the virus from spreading.

To be honest, I didn’t expect people all over the world to keep wearing masks in hot summer. I thought many people would stop it because it’s very annoying and troublesome, especially in scorching heat of summer!

I am very surprised that most people follow the advice. It seems that human beings are much smarter and more considerate than I expected!

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The Next Global Depression Is Coming and Optimism Won’t Slow It Down

The economic impact of COVID-19 will cut deeper than any recession in Trecent memory

The coming depression will be global, deeply cut into our lives, and last long. World leaders should take actions together to address it for the good of all but they don’t seem to be doing it.

Today, I had a conversation with one of my friends at a cafe. It started from about this article then went on to what our government is doing now.

I said that criticizing everything the government does would be easy but it’d be difficult to suggest another plausible option instead. We know some bold changes are needed but such changes can give someone vulnerable severe damage. It’s impossible for the government to show a policy which every one of us will be satisfied.

To solve the problem, my friend said, the ultimate form might be a cult. If a guru said something, believers would follow it unquestioningly. Hmm. Interesting. Maybe it is happening already?

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More than 1m childless people over 65 are 'dangerously unsupported'

Older people without children at greater risk of isolation, poor health and inability to access formal care – report

The number of childless people has been increasing. When they get old and need support to live, they don’t have hands to help them sincerely and continuously. Under the current circumstances, practically, who they can rely on is children only. The governments should take steps to establish a new care system taking our demography into account.

Actually, I sometimes wonder why we want to have children? What for?

I heard some people say they need children because they want them to take care of them after retirement. What? It scares me. Do they raise children, educate them, and encourage them for their glorious life after retirement?

Such people often say they are betrayed when their children leave them. I don’t understand why they can’t hope their children’s happiness instead of their own happiness.

What I want to say is even if you have children, you can’t or shouldn’t rely on them as much as possible.

However, it is inevitable that everyone will have time to need someone’s support eventually. If we can’t rely on our children, then who we can rely on?

In my opinion, the answer would be AI, or robots.

A few years ago, my sister and I were watching a TV program showing us there was a robot for the elderly who can’t handle a spoon properly, which made them unable to eat by themselves. The robot had a sensor to catch a person’s line of sight and move its spoon from the dish to the person’s mouth. By using this machine, an old man was eating something by himself contentedly. 

When we saw him, my sister cried, “How miserable! Being fed by a robot?! How can they do such a terrible thing to him? Can you imagine you would eat with nobody but a robot? When I get old, I wouldn’t want to be humiliated like this!” I was surprised to hear that. I thought If I can eat by myself by controlling a robot by myself, it would be much better than being fed by someone else spoon by spoon. 

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Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash

Photovoltaic panels are a boon for clean energy but are tricky to recycle. As the oldest ones expire, get ready for a solar e-waste glut.

Some years ago, solar panels looked like a gate of a rosy future. However, when those mixture of metals and chemicals end their lives, they will become a burden for the environment. Since the panels normally last 25 years and most of them were set after 2000, we have yet to face problems they could cause. We need to take action to prevent a new environmental issue due to solar panels before it gets serious. Some countries are trying to build efficient recycling systems, which don’t seem to be working enough.

I think solar panels are similar to plastic products. 

At first, people were amazed by their convenience and were fond of using them. Gradually, everyone got used to be those products and started to think they are indispensable to live a civilized life. 

However, at some point, the convenience turns to defects. As for plastic products, their strength that they won’t rot turned their fault. Solar panels are relatively cheap and easy to be installed. That’s why now we are surrounded by them.

Now both are /can be a threat to the environment.

Once, one of my friends said, “ When we create something, we never think about a time when we throw it away.” Well, it is likely. When a child makes a flower wreath, when a government construct a nuclear plant, do you think they have a plan to throw the thing away? 

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Millions of Americans Have Lost Jobs in the Pandemic — And Robots and AI Are Replacing Them Faster Than Ever

The drive to replace humans with machinery is accelerating as companies struggle to avoid workplace infections of COVID-19

Phew. Very long! 

What I understand is: Although there has already been a trend companies replace human workers with AI, COVID-19 is accelerating it. companies prefer AI not only for cheaper cost but for employees’ and customers’ safety. And, even after the pandemic, they wouldn’t look back to humans as their employees. If you want to follow the change of the society, you need to keep learning, being retrained.

I think no one can stop the trend. I sometimes wonder how I can keep working. As Yuval Noah Harari, a professor and an author of “Sapiens”, predicted, am I going to become one of “useless people”? Probably. 

I happened to see some translators’ complaints on the Internet this morning. They claimed their wage should be much higher because their work is very tough.

Yes, I understand they work hard. But ...is their wage paid for how much they suffered? Or for how good their products are? It would definitely be the latter. When someone else can offer better products at better price, everyone would choose them. In the past, only few people could translate and translation was a very special skill. However, nowadays, thanks to the global connection, many people learn several languages and those who don’t can use machine translation more easily. No wonder a translator become less valuable.

I think some jobs can go in the opposite direction. For example, a nanny used to be a very cheap job.  It’s because people used to think that taking care of a baby or a child was easy. But nowadays, fewer people know how to raise babies or how to handle children very well even if you were a mother of two. Some parents even don’t want to learn it because they want to use their time for their work or pleasure, not for their children. So, nanny’s importance is increasing. 

I don’t know how this world will change. I’m very looking forward to seeing it, if it’s good or bad.

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Artificial Intelligence Is Powerful—And Misunderstood

Here's how to protect workers, and deal with other challenges

AI may steal human jobs, but not all. We are superior to AI in some fields: creativity, complex strategy, empathy and compassion. We don’t need to worry too much. We need to pay attentions to AI’s downsides: the potential to accelerate inequality, security concerns, and privacy invasion. There are many novels which describes how awfully humans suffer from AI dominance. However, a world where AI rules and controls humans is not likely to come soon.

One of jobs which are likely to remain for humans is doctors.  But not all doctors are no more perfect than AI is.

As the author says, you would not like to be told you have cancer by AI. Then, How about the flu? What if AI has been developed much more? I think the day people trust AI rather than human doctors will come in the not so far future.

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I wanted to reply someone’s comment on my blog as “memo”, who is the owner of this blog, but somehow I couldn’t.  How can I? 

This is my secondary blog on Tumblr. So, is it impossible? 

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We Love Our Kid. That's Why We Said No to Remote Learning

What we want most right now is for our child to feel safe and secure

During the school closure, this family managed to find a way to stay comfortable together at home. They know they are lucky and not all families can be like them.

So what? I don’t understand why the author has chosen this title. Reading this title, I imagine something like “Children need their friends. Talking in person is very important for them.” or “School closure may be safer for children against COVID-19. But how can we  reassure them about their lost opportunities to learn?” would be written. But it isn’t.

If you asked me, I would put a title like “We are still struggling. No parents can be confident amid this pandemic.” or something like that.

No offence to this family. I really appreciate the parents’ efforts and the child looks very cute and smart. I just don’t get why this title has chosen. Maybe it’s because my English is still not so good.

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Why the World Wants Democracy but Not Necessarily the American Version

Is the U.S. style of democracy the right path for all?

It seems many people in the world are fed up with “American justice.” Still, they enjoy American entertainments and want to go to the US, and adore their democracy.

I really understand how they feel because I’m one of them. Sometimes I roll my eyes when I hear some news in the US, but fundamentally I like and adore people in the US. They are very energetic. 

The most interesting in this article is that the most enthusiastic supporters for the US is immigrants in the US. Maybe it makes sense. People tend to want to justify what they’ve done.

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It's a cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason. Swedes have exalted passive-aggressiveness into an art form. Here are some of the ten most annoying examples you're likely to come across and how to handle them.

Very interesting! I’ve never thought of Swedes in that way. Their behaviors reminds me of my late grandmother. Her “She is very clever.” meant “She is very selfish.” And “The dress is refined” meant “You look older.” When I was a child, I was always confused with trying to understand what she really meant. Now I perfectly understand the way she speaks. Thanks to her, perhaps I can live in Sweden comfortably.

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What Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Do With Their Baby Gifts?

The new royal baby will get lots of gifts but

Only their family and friends can send them a gift for the baby. Otherwise, the royal office will send it back to you, or they will donate it to local hospitals or charities. The couple will never get your gift.

But there is one way you can send your celebration to them. By a regular mail. They accept such mails. You even can get a reply from them! 

I didn’t know that!! Maybe next time, I’ll send them a card! 

Oh, but the couple is not a member of the Royal Family anymore...

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I Worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center; They Treat Workers Like Robots

The author of 'On the Clock' investigates the experience of modern low-wage work

Written by a journalist who works at an Amazon fulfillment center to experience a low-wage job. 

She says their working condition is tough physically, but it can be bearable somehow. Mental pressure is much severe. If a human worker makes a mistake (But anyone will make a mistake sometime soon, right?) , the failure makes them feel they are less valuable than machines. So, they need to keep working like a robot. No mistake, no breaking time. In order to prove they are superior to machines.

Unsafety and low wage are often pointed out as a problem of unskilled work. But not at Amazon. They offer safe working condition and higher wage. 

Still, their workers’ working condition is very tough. It’s because they are human, not robots.