Daily Archives: June 24, 2020

Chinese police are gathering blood samples from the countrys roughly 700 million men and boys with the express purpose of building a national genetic database of their DNA.

The Chinese government has reportedly been collecting these genetic codes since 2017, according to new research. Police have been showing up to peoples homes and even schools to draw blood and compile genetic information.

Once theyre done, the state will be able to track down any man or boys male relatives based on their genes, according to The New York Times, vastly enhancing Chinas already ubiquitous surveillance powersinto a Gattaca-esque genetic panopticon.

Even more alarming is that at least one American company, Thermo Fisher, is helping China do it the pharma company sold China the tailor-made DNA testing kits that police are using to collect samples after actively pursuing the contract, the NYT reports. After the U.S. government criticized Thermo Fishers decision, the company continued onward.

Law enforcement officials in China cite law and order to justify their growing genetic database, arguing that the surveillance effort will help with criminal investigations. But human rights advocates and even some officials in China are concerned about the privacy implications of forcing everyone to surrender their genetic code.

The ability of the authorities to discover who is most intimately related to whom, given the context of the punishment of entire families as a result of one persons activism, is going to have a chilling effect on society as a whole, Human Rights Watch researcher Maya Wang told the NYT.

Continued here:
China Is Building a Genetic Database of Every Man in the Country - Futurism

What will it take to encourage much more widespread reliance on working at home for at least part of each week? asked Frank Schiff, the chief economist of the US Committee for Economic Development, in The Washington Post in 1979.

Four decades on, we have the answer.

But COVID-19 doesnt spell the end of the centralised office predicted by futurists since at least the 1970s.

The organisational benefits of the propinquity effect the tendency to develop deeper relationships with those we see most regularly are well-established.

The open-plan office will have to evolve, though, finding its true purpose as a collaborative work space augmented by remote work.

If were smart about it, necessity might turn out to be the mother of reinvention, giving us the best of both centralised and decentralised, collaborative and private working worlds.

Cultural Resistance

Organisational culture, not technology, has long been the key force keeping us in central offices.

That was the case in 1974 and is still the case today, observed the father of telecommuting Jack Nilles in 2015, three decades after he and his University of Southern California colleagues published their landmark report Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff: Options for Tomorrow. The adoption of telework is still well behind its potential.

Until now.

But it has taken a pandemic to change the status quo evidence enough of culture resistance.

In his 1979 article, Schiff outlined three key objections to working from home:

how to tell how well workers are doing, or if they are working at all

employees need for contact with coworkers and others

too many distractions.

To the first objection, Schiff responded that experts agreed performance is best judged by output and the organisations objectives. To the third, he noted: In many cases, the opposite is likely to be true.

The COVID-19 experiment so far supports him. Most workers and managers are happy with remote working, believe they are performing just as well, and want to continue with it.

Personal Contact

But the second argument the need for personal contact to foster close teamwork is harder to dismiss.

There is evidence remote workers crave more feedback.

As researchers Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber note in their Harvard Business Review article The Truth About Open Offices, published in November 2019, one of the most robust findings in sociology proposed long before we had the technology to prove it through data is that propinquity, or proximity, predicts social interaction.

Wabers research at the MIT Media Lab demonstrated the probability that any two workers will interact either in person or electronically is directly proportional to the distance between their desks. In his 2013 book People Analytics he includes the following results from a bank and information technology company.

Experiments in Collaboration

Interest in fostering collaboration has sometimes led to disastrous workplace experiments. One was the building Frank Gehry designed for the Chiat/Day advertising agency in the late 1980s.

Agency boss Jay Chiat envisioned his headquarters as a futuristic step into flexible work but workers hated the lack of personal spaces.

Less dystopian was the Pixar Animation Studios headquarters opened in 2000. Steve Jobs, majority shareholder and chief executive, oversaw the project. He took a keen interest in things like the placement of bathrooms, accessed through the buildings central atrium. We wanted to find a way to force people to come together, he said, to create a lot of arbitrary collisions of people.

Yet Bernstein and Wabers research shows propinquity is also strong in campus buildings designed to promote serendipitous interaction. For increased interactions, they say, workers should be ideally on the same floor.

Being Apart

How to balance the organisational forces pulling us together with the health forces pushing social distancing?

We know COVID-19 spreads most easily between people in enclosed spaces for extended periods. In Britain, research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine shows workplaces are the most common transmission path for adults aged 20 to 50.

We may have to get used to wearing masks along with plenty of hand sanitising and disinfecting of high-traffic areas and shared facilities, from keyboards to kitchens. Every door knob and lift button is an issue.

But space is the final frontier.

Its going to take more than vacating every second desk or imposing barriers like cubicle walls, which largely defeat the point of open-plan offices.

An alternative vision comes from real-estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. Its 6 feet office concept includes more space between desks and lots of visual cues to remind coworkers to maintain physical distances.

Of course, to do anything like this in most offices will require a proportion of staff working at home on any given day. It will also mean then end of the individual desk for most.

This part may the hardest to handle. We like our personal spaces.

Well need to balance the sacrifice of sharing spaces against the advantages of working away from the office while still getting to see colleagues in person. Well need new arrangements for storing personal items beyond the old locker, and handover protocols for equipment and furniture.

Offices will also need to need more private spaces for greater use of video conferencing and the like. These sorts of collaborative tools dont work well if you cant insulate yourself from distractions.

But theres a huge potential upside with the new open office. A well-managed rotation of office days and seating arrangements could help us get to know more of those colleagues who, because they used to sit a few too many desks away, we rarely talked to.

It might just mean the open-plan office finally finds its mojo.

Andrew Wallace isprogram director of Interior Architecture at theUniversity of South Australia.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Excerpt from:
The Death of the Open-Plan Office? Not Quite, but a Revolution is in the Air - Nextgov

Freestyle Digital Media hasacquiredU.S. rightstoDivos!, a high school comedy directed by Ryan Patrick Bartley. It will bow day and date on digital and DVD on July 14. Matt Steele penned the script and stars as Ricky Redmond, a self-proclaimed Broadway Legend who is forced to share the spotlight with the schools star athlete (Brundidge) in the high school musical. Marissa Jaret Winokur, Nicole Sullivan, Jayson Bernard, Jason Stuart and Jake Busey also star in the ensemble. Theres always that one kid who takes the school play way too seriously, said Steele. Divos! is for those kids whose year is made or broken the day the cast list is posted. Steele also produces with Bernard, Roberto Rosario Jr., Bartley, Javier Montoya, Maria Capp and Kristi Kilday.

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The Prison Within, the justice system reform documentary directed by Katherin Hervey that won an award at this years Santa Barbara Film Festival, has been acquired by Gravitas Ventures. It will be released August 25 on VOD and home video. Narrated by Hill Harper, the film from Hervey, a former Los Angeles Public Defender and volunteer prison college instructor who was granted unprecedented access inside San Quentin Prison, tells some of the stories of men incarcerated for murder, and shows off their redemption and healing. It reveals the systemic injustices that perpetuate cycles of violence and trauma, and attempts to lays a path to reconcile the mass incarceration crisis.

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Superhuman: The Invisible Made Visible, a documentary that seeks to offer proof of individuals with extra-sensory powers, has been acquired by 1091. It will bow worldwide on demand and VOD on July 14. Futurist and the documentarys producer-host Caroline Cory is joined by the likes of Corey Feldman, Naomi Grossman, Robert Picardo, Michael Dorn, Karina Smirnoff and Rachele Brooke Smith along with scientists Tom Campbell, Dean Radin, Rudolph Schild, Glen Rein and Jim Gimzewski, as the film provides never-before-seen demonstrations of psi phenomena for the first time in a documentary format.

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Random Media has acquired worldwide rights to Ali Zamanis Opus of an Angel, a drama starring William McNamara, Cindy Pickett, Jamison Newlander and newcomer Kaylynn Kubeldis. A July 28 on-demand and digital release is planned. Written by Shahram Zargari and Zamani, the film centers on Stephen (McNamara), who is taking a sentimental tour of Los Angeles a year after tragic events cost him everything. His plan is to commit suicide until a chance encounter with Maria (Kubeldis), a blind girl who is lost and wandering the city. He begins to question whether their encounter was mere coincidence or divine intervention.

Read the original here:
Freestyle Acquires Divos!; Docs The Prison Within & Superhuman Find Homes; Random Media Takes Opus Of An Angel Film Deal Briefs - Deadline

STIFF BUSINESS: The new full length album by Nicholas Mallis, The Final Station, once again bursts to life in full bloom and is packed with notable touchstones he makes his own. For fans of classic, expansive pop of the sort that ran unchecked for a very long time (approximately 1972 through about 1987) and incorporated influences from across the whole of the UK and Europe, as well as significant rhythmic guidance from Jamaican artists of multiple styles, his will fit into your wheelhouse quite nicely. Opening track Disaster really tees the album up nicely with its steady rhythm guitar and Brian Eno-perfect descending melody and doubled vocal. Lyrically, the record is timely in its criticisms and observations, but more often than not subsumes these bits into universal themes of the flattening aspects of modernity. To wit: Forget to wonder/ Forget to dream/ Forget to switch out the laundry from Multiply. That same song is punctuated with mystery and, ironically, warmth by a stellar but simple melodica line. Even on the hyped-up dance pop of Catch 2022, Mallis says, How many people out there avoid their friends at the grocery store? How many people out there would rather book a ticket to the moon? Although Id hesitate to conclusively paint Mallis and his music with the broad brush of retro-futurism, his deft use of now-classic twists of point-making, both in a musical and literary sense, are a welcome reminder of lessons wed either forgotten or packed away while being convinced we learned them the first time. Check this out as soon as possible at nicholasmallis.bandcamp.com, and be a fan over at nicholasmallis.bandcamp.com.

BRISTOL CALLING: It seems like a really long time ago when I told yall about how doomy goth rockers Feather Trade would be touring the UK with Spear of Destiny. Well, that all happened last fall, and the band just released a Live EP from one of the shows on that tour. Simply titled Live From Bristol-The Fleece, the record is a tight collection of six tracks showcasing the throbby and dark tunes the band is known for. Highlights on this particular collection are Mouthbreather, Deadbody and the anxious slow grinder Just Like Film. Stream along at feathertrade.bandcamp.com, and keep up with the gang at facebook.com/feathertrade.

BRING THE NOISE: Psychological horror show Wuornos makes the noise of nightmares, and does so in a way so patently aggressive that the recordings have a vitality to them that similarly structured projects dont. On the relatively new three-track EP When I Wander From You, Within Me I Find Darkness And Fear, opening track Dont Vote is a shots-fired salvo of the first degree. While that particular track maintains a steady pulse throughout, the next track, We Do Not Know What A Body Can Do, is a blind roller coaster of squeals, slow downs, hyper speed oscillations, et al. Final track Liber Null is the longest one here at nearly seven and a half minutes long. Roughly, it incorporates a lot of the same elements of the first two tracks but makes very good use of raygun-ish sound effects, and by its end slides into a recognizable rock rhythm. While not in any rational sense a traditionally enjoyable record, its scorched execution never wavers in its intensity, and consistency of this sort is very difficult to achieve. Head to wuornosath.bandcamp.com and hear for yourself.

HOME BREW: Evan Leima (ex-Dream Culture) has slowly released songs from his newest project Pants That Fit onto a collection of tracks named The Cronoavitus Mixes. As a songwriter, he is well-skilled at exhibiting two primary styles: well-wound psych-pop and furious punk. Opening track Stability/Desire is a prime example of the former, while track number two, Fill Eyes With Sun, exemplifies the latter. So, too, does the newest song Tear Through The Gas fit that latter category. The song, written in reference to our current phenomenon of massive demonstrations/direct action and police response, is currently the final song on this growing collection. I kind of like the idea of letting this group of songs gather steam and increase in size as kind of a dynamic document of 2020. No idea if thats Leimas intention, but its my take on it. Your experience will vary, so set your controls for the heart of the sun over at pantsthatfit.bandcamp.com, and if so inclined, give a thumbs-up at facebook.com/pantsthatfit.

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Nicholas Mallis' Final Station, And More Music News and Gossip | Flagpole - Flagpole Magazine

Your unexpected role in saving the planet begins with this book! A practical guide of 30 habits that can help shape your future and the world around you.

London - 23rd June, 2020 - Sandeep Nath presents an alternative to the seeming self-destruction of humans on planet earth. Written through the lens of a charismatic teacher, Guru Pranachandra, Renewal: Your Unexpected Role In Saving The Planet offers a simple solution to the downward spiral we find ourselves in. Written to serve as a practical guide for everyones day-to-day karma, Renewal is set in the lives of a modern-day family and designed for the forward-thinking futurist.

Sandeep Nath shares why he decided to launch the book now, ahead of schedule:

CoViD has been a wakeup call. A call that we will soon dismiss unless we cement the lifestyle changes into our routines before this is over. Before there actually is an orchestrated technology attack, the possibility of which the Guru has mentioned in the teaching of the book. CoViD was akin to a dress rehearsal for all the players to know how prepared they are.

For these reasons, I have chosen to put this book into your hands now urgently without running it past a traditional publishing house.

As of 2020, Renewal is critical, because it is our laxity that has led to the current state of rising personal illness, mindless lifestyles, social degeneration, environmental degradation, and overall moral decay. There has been no better time for the world to hit the reset button and begin its path to Renewalism, through 30 practical habits focused on helping readers to: Renew ourselves at a body-mind-spirit level, Renew our society and our environment and finally Renew the systems we operate with.

Sandeep Nath, an IIT-IIM alumnus, is an International Speaker and Coach on Transforming Consciousness using ones Inner Power, conducting live workshops across 4 continents.

In spite of more than two decades of directing and setting up successful ventures in the corporate world, Sandeep felt an increasing sense of hollowness and lack of existential clarity among people in general. Extensive studies under oriental masters of lineages from India, Tibet, China, and Japan connected him with the energies of higher consciousness and purpose. And sharing these with the world at large became the aim of this book.

The Book is available now, worldwide on Amazon, or at a discount price on http://www.renewalism.com/.

Follow Sandeep on Facebook, YouTube or Linkedin.

Visit http://www.Renewalism.com to see real-world reviews from leaders, business owners and futurists, plus find out how you can begin your journey into the new future.

Media ContactCompany Name: Nebsly MediaContact Person: Sandeep NathEmail: Send EmailCountry: United KingdomWebsite: https://www.nebslymedia.com/

Read the rest here:
Renewal Shows the Possibility of a Better World Post-Covid - Press Release - Digital Journal

BOSTON (Project Syndicate) Last month, Twitter TWTR, -1.67% CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the company would allow its employees, currently working from home in accordance with social-distancing protocols, to stay there for good. Several other big businesses from Facebook FB, +1.26% to the French automaker PSA UG, -2.08% have followed suit with plans to keep far more employees at home after the COVID-19 crisis ends.

Rather than welcoming the death of the office, companies should be engineering its rebirth, in a form that strengthens its greatest asset: the ability to foster weak social bonds.

In a sense, the death of the office has been a long time coming. In the 1960s, American futurist Melvin Webber predicted that the world would reach a post-city age, in which it might be possible to locate on a mountain top and to maintain intimate, real-time, and realistic contact with business or other associates.

During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, the rise of internet-based companies made that future seem closer than ever. As the British journalist Frances Cairncross put it in 1997, the internet meant the death of distance. Once distance doesnt matter, the logic goes, offices and, by extension, cities become irrelevant.

It may seem like we are reaching this point. From newscasters to office workers, jobs once thought to necessitate a shared workplace are being performed from home during the pandemic. And yet anyone who has been on a group Zoom call knows that, despite advances in communication technologies, engaging with colleagues remotely often remains far more difficult than meeting face to face.

The problem runs deeper than time lags or toddler interruptions.

As the sociologist Mark Granovetter argued in 1973, functioning societies are underpinned not only by strong ties (close relationships), but also by weak ties (casual acquaintances). Whereas strong ties tend to form dense, overlapping networks our close friends are often close friends with one another weak ties connect us to a larger and more diverse group of people.

By bridging different social circles, weak ties are more likely to connect us with new ideas and perspectives, challenging our preconceptions and fostering innovation and its diffusion. And while video-chatting or social media may help us to maintain our strong ties, it is unlikely to produce new ones, let alone connect us with as many people from outside our social circles: baristas, fellow train passengers, colleagues with whom we dont work directly, and so on.

An analysis of data from MIT students, professors, and administrators during the pandemic seems to bear this out. My colleagues and I built two models of the same communication network one showing interactions before the campus was closed, and the other showing interactions during the shutdown.

Initial results which will still need additional validation and peer review indicate that interactions are narrowing, with people exchanging more messages within a smaller pool of contacts. In short, existing strong ties are deepening, while weak ties falter.

We have the tools to stay connected from a mountaintop. Our challenge today is to leverage physical space so that we may regularly descend from our isolated summits.

Perhaps in the future, it will be possible to mimic physical serendipity and form weak ties online. But, for now, online platforms appear ill-equipped to do so.

On the contrary, they often actively filter out unknown individuals or opposing ideas a function that was fueling political polarization even before the pandemic. As a result, our lockdown-enforced social bubbles are increasingly opaque.

Shared physical spaces seem to be the only antidote to this fragmentation. Offices, which facilitate deeper interactions among diverse acquaintances, can be a particularly powerful corrective.

And yet demand for shared spaces seems unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels. Companies like Twitter that do not see productivity fall will be eager to lower overhead costs. As for employees, it was never going to take long to get used to living without long commutes, strict corporate schedules, and uncomfortable office attire.

This will have far-reaching implications. Even 10% reduction in demand for office space could cause property values to plummet. But while this would be bad news for developers, designers, and real-estate agents, it could also ease the economic pressures behind urban gentrification.

In any case, companies would be well-advised not to eschew offices entirely, both for their own sake new, innovative, and collaborative ideas are essential to success and for the wellbeing of the societies in which they operate. Instead, they can allow employees to stay home more often, while taking steps to ensure that the time people do spend in the office is conducive to establishing weak ties.

This could mean, for example, transforming traditional floor plans, designed to facilitate solitary task execution, into more open, dynamic spaces, which encourage the so-called cafeteria effect. (Nowhere is it easier to establish weak ties than while eating lunch in a cafeteria.)

More radical redesigns may follow, with designers finding ways to generate serendipity, such as through choreographed, event-based spaces.

The COVID-19 crisis has shown that we have the tools to stay connected from a mountaintop or our kitchen table, for that matter. Our challenge today is to leverage physical space so that we may regularly descend from our isolated summits. That means pursuing the rebirth of the office in a form that enhances its greatest asset: the ability to nurture all the ties that bind.

Read more here:
Working from home is missing something that only offices and cities can provide - MarketWatch