Aligning Decisions with Mission: Using Socio-Technical Integration for Workers in Industrial Organizations.
Despite a recognized need for corporations to take greater social responsibility, such responsibility is often lacking in the decisions of corporate America. This lack of attention to social responsibility has numerous implications, not least for the US workforce. Additionally, the workforce itself has a potential role to play in implementing social responsibility. Workers within an organization are partly responsible for the decisions causing negative or positive effects; however, organizations are not willing to claim the negative effects of their decisions until they are forced to acknowledge the consequences and are held accountable by the law and possibly the public. This dissertation examines decisions and actions related to the worker, their work roles, and within their organization. It aims to understand to what extent workers can function as change agents in aligning their organizations with social responsibility as it relates to organizational missions. The methodological approach used to gather data for this dissertation is Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR), and the framework used to analyze the data is Midstream Modulation. The dissertation advances the STIR methodology in several respects as a result of studying technology startups from an organizational perspective. These advances include measuring how modulations within individual workers’ decisions have outcomes at the organizational level or across multiple departments. Examples of such “organizational modulations” can be seen in two of the three studies at the core of this dissertation. Additionally, I demonstrate that multiple reflexive modulations can be involved in modulation sequences, and that modulation sequences can be nested in relation to one another. Furthermore, I present the Collaborative Change Agent Model, which can be utilized to embed concepts such as social responsibility and Responsible Innovation in an individual worker’s decision-making process.
“Young people just want a handout, they are not willing to do the work necessary to be self-sufficient in this world, and they are given an education but make no use of their skills.”
By Shivam Zaveri
‘Young people just want a handout, they are not willing to do the work necessary to be self-sufficient in this world, and they are given an education but make no use of their skills.’
While these claims might be substantive for a few Americans, they disregard the local context that lead people to use the welfare system. When these claims are made by older generations towards younger generations, they equivocate their upbringing and opportunities as being the same for younger generations. Covid-19 has not been friendly to anyone and it will remain more devastating to people in poverty. The effects of this pandemic will not be understood until after a year or 3.
Older perspectives overlook the systemic biases favoring the resourceful. Outspoken welfare critics use these claims to create a conflated narrative of US welfare users loaded with stereotypes, maintained over decades. This narrative is appropriated to gather support for fiscally responsible welfare initiatives, which leads to tighter constraints to access aid further destabilizing already vulnerable communities. These communities have grown over the past few years and will continue to grow. Welfare services need to be expanded to allow all disadvantaged in a community access services and escape poverty. This piece covers a few of the factors pushing people into the welfare system such as poverty, unemployment, and incarceration and details the disadvantaged populations within them.
The stats listed next are there to exemplify the amount of support given currently is not enough to end poverty but to keep people there.
One first needs to understand that percentages are useful in comparison, but undercut the number of individuals, especially in the context of US populations. Out of the 320.7 million Americans, 61% or 195 million are white and 39% or 125 million are minorities [5]. Living in the same country does not mean the various races will see a proportional relationship in the factors leading to welfare. Many vulnerable populations might seem as insignificant percentages but represent millions of individuals.
Poverty
When narrowing the US population to people in poverty, 34 million people are in poverty of which 10.5 million are children 0-18 years old. From 2017 to 2019, 4.6 to 4.9 million elders respectively above 65 years are in poverty [2]. These 14.9 million people are at a point in life where they are unable to support themselves and this vulnerable population has been increasing over the last decade.
In the 2016 KKF report, most US states had higher percentages of blacks and Hispanics in poverty, with a total of 17.4 million whites, 8.7 million blacks, and 11.2 million Hispanics [2]. However, poverty in 2019 changed to 14.2 million whites, 8.1 million blacks, and 9.5 Hispanics [2].
There are 3.4 million more minority people in poverty than whites.
The sheer amount of minorities in poverty burden their respective communities even more. The narrative of the stereotypical freeloading adult can only reference 18.7 million US adults in poverty. Of this vulnerable population, 7.9 million adults in poverty have children. These people are subject to the same constraints of using the welfare system such as having a clean criminal record and a time cap on certain welfare services.
Labor Force
Of the 164 million people in the labor force, there are 10.7 million unemployed people [6]. These are adults seeking employment in an economy where there are more people than jobs. Of the unemployed, young adults and minorities have the highest rate of unemployment. For comparison, 9.9% 20-year-old and older blacks were unemployed as opposed to 6% of their whites peers. As a young black American, there are inherent biases in hiring practices that can further disadvantage one from attaining a position with the same salary as their peers [1]. The competitive nature of the U.S. labor market ensures people in poverty’s existence. The divestment away from the US welfare programs bolsters poverty and a lack of opportunity for all US people with a larger disparate effect on minorities.
Arrested
In the U.S., 11 million people go to jail every year and 6.84 million people are serving time or on probation [7]. If in poverty, the chances of affording proper legal representation are far less than selecting a court-appointed attorney. While pleading guilty to a charge for a lesser sentence may seem tempting, their communities will suffer while they serve time and a conviction stigma affects employment ability after time served. Incarcerated people become trapped in poverty, unable to access certain welfare services, and on average earn less than their non-incarcerated peers [4]. Furthermore, black people are the most incarcerated population at 880,000 people [4]. If an individual from a vulnerable population is caught in the judicial system, they should expect to become even more vulnerable.
Welfare Users
When comparing the various vulnerable populations to the users of the welfare system a different narrative appears. In 2012, there were 52 million people participating one of the six major US welfare programs, where a majority of the users were children between 0-18 [3]. Of the 46 million people in poverty, 31 million accessed welfare services [3]. Of the 12.5 million unemployed in the labor force, 4.1 million accessed welfare services [3]. While only 3% of US is arrested, this can have negative consequences throughout one’s life and become unable to even access certain welfare serves.
Vulnerable populations are bound to increase if welfare programs are cut. Especially with the negative effects of Covid-19, people are bound to enter poverty at faster rates. The argument that the majority of these people receive enough benefits to survive is only referencing a select portion of the population. Children and elderly are in helpless position, and there have been more laborers than jobs for the last decade. Welfare programs do not encourage people to be freeloaders; they allow vulnerable populations to attend to their needs and not to spend everything they earn on surviving. In a predominantly white community, people in poverty, unemployed, or arrested have a higher chance of finding opportunity and becoming self-sufficient. If you are a white person in this community, those chances are even higher.
References
[1] Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2002). A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination. 1-40.
[2] Census Bureau. (2019). Poverty Rate by Race. Retrieved from kkf.org: https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/?dataView=0¤tTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
[3] Irving, S., & Loveless, T. (2015). Dynamics of Economic Well-Being. Washington D.C.: US Census Bureau.
[4] Rabuy, B., & Kopf, D. (2015, July 9). Prisons of Poverty. Retrieved from Prison Policy Initiative : https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html
[5] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . (2017). Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2016.
[6] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020). News Release December 2020. Washington D.C.: Department of Labor.
[7] Wagner, P., & Rabuy, B. (2017). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017. Retrieved from Prison Policy Initiative: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html
Workers prioritize working and earning their wages over reskilling themselves, the time investment does not result in job security or advancement
Shivam Zaveri – Panelist at Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 64th Conference – with ASU, Uber, Rand Corp, US Army
Enhancing Workforce Outcomes with AI-Based Training Systems
By Shivam Zaveri
Surveyed Worker Roles and Technologies •
Prerequisites for a Training System •
AI Training System Objectives
Here, I charted major sectors of the US workforce. Showing 60 million people of the 160 employed in the US.
Good producing, Service producing, and public service industries are represented.
While the trends for public service employment has continued to increase at faster rates,
Services sectors have been relatively stagnant
Goods producing industries has had a sharp decline (Manufacturing, Mining, Construction, Agriculture)
With advances in automation and global competition, the manufacturing industry have been able to reduce the amount of workers by over 30% since 1979. There were 19 million workers in 1979 to 11 million in 2020.
Manufacturing has seen a stark rise in labor output and productivity with a reduction in employment. Blue collared roles are increasingly at risk.
The decrease in employment is attributed to facilities implementing automation and advanced technologies, globalizing competitors, and out sourcing departments.
Automation has primarily targeted repetitive and redundant tasks found in a worker’s role. Organizations implement these technologies to remain competitive and a globalizing landscape.
Level of Automation based on worker agency and decision control across four points
Information Acquisition
Information Analysis
Decision and Action Selection
Action Implementation
Workers prioritize working and earning their wages over reskilling themselves, the time investment does not result in job security or advancement (Vice, 2019).
Learning from automation literature and supported by this study’s participants, automation technologies making mistakes results in compounding failures until the error is addressed.
Artificial intelligent technologies are thought to be primarily for making decisions.Here, AIs supporting workers familiar with successful workforce outcomes will increase the efficiency of the technology and competitiveness worker.
Socioeconomic factors can be linked to positive workforce outcomes within the AI training system
A major prerequisite is a change in the developer’s intent and motive.
Artificial intelligence technologies can support American workers if their developers are sensitive to worker skill levels and incentivize positive behaviors. Technology developers have the opportunity to avoid causing another around of systemic issues through focusing on the worker being successful, which in turn will allow for more positive workforce outcomes.
AIs have to be trained to be specific in providing suggestions and feedback during the training process.
AI systems are useful for solving specific and isolated problems. AI systems require multiple data gathering points with continuous data flowing to optimize solutions or identify problems AI systems are still link to workers that implement its suggestions
Specific areas of improvement have to be identified in the AI and the AI will have to observe instances and find improvement that fit the parameters.
While AI can understand current training systems, useful feedback to workers will require AI developers to include metrics and parameters that are executable through worker-AI interactions.
Workers should be given a robust opportunity to identify AI mistakes.
Organizations or worker advocates cannot stop technological solutions that are capable of obsoleting workers, regardless of their flaws. AI developers can provide net benefit solutions outcompeting cutthroat solutions that have disastrous effects on worker populations. There is an opportunity with new AI technologies to stave off the reduction in workers. While allowing workers and organizations to compete internationally and achieving progressive goals such as scaling market share and profitability gains.
All of which results in positive workforce and organizational outcomes.
The recommendations for AI Based training systems:
Socioeconomic factors should be tailored for individual worker roles.
Job satisfaction should be surveyed by observing instances of mental workload, situational awareness, complacency, skills degradation.
Skills specificity and improvement opportunities should be understood on a personal level, where a manager should be checking on the progress of worker improvements.
Workers should be incentivized through career advancement opportunities with increased compensation for advancing. (all of the contractor jobs could only increase earnings by spending more time working).
Developers will need to ensure the technology will function inside the work environment and provide workers an intuitive interface that advances their skills. New technologies cause workers to become uneasy and require their buy-in. Without worker buy-in, AI training technologies are bound to fail even if the interface is flawless.
Accepting the divisive decisions being made on our behalf is just the beginning. We will have to uphold our true values as they are tested. I’m glad my generation has the will to lead. We wouldn’t be in the streets protesting and causing riots if we were corrallable sheep.
SZ
Choosing for the Meek
Deciding for the weak
Coercing when opposed
Proposals from the foes
Come through our old
I took a step back from the political sensitivity flooding our senses. I noticed something unsettling. People refusing to listen and making judgments where it does not even matter. Since my generation has no clue, even though we are all affected by the bad weather. I see the last of a great prejudice – one that is bequeathing on its last breath.
Actions in the judicial branch have cemented a conservative bias for the next 20 to 30 years. There is no denying this current. All we can do is use it for our own gains. Current trends show this mentality going nowhere anytime soon.
The level of conviction one will see in filing the Notorious RBG’s vacancy is a testament to this trend. We are ‘incapable’ of making decision that have longevity. Or so they think.
Any chance we, the generation coming to power, sees beneficial for elevating our status or wealth gets categorically denied. Regardless of the hogwash reasons, justified by consultants and their pretty statistics, the self-preserving mentality of elders in decision-making capacities find ways to remain in power.
Agency is a funny thing.
When our elders become weak, we are going to be making decisions on their behalf. Everything from throw em in a nursing home to allow them into your home. These decisions will be evaluated by our community and peers. Shall we treat the categorical old with the same contempt and high moral ground as they have shown us.
As of now, 50% of us live with our parents [1].
We are fooled into thinking this is a choice where we are saving money and resources. The fact of the matter is there are not enough opportunities out there for us to thrive as they did. Our parents’ ability to earn and use education to get ahead was the equivalent of an adult playing football with toddlers. Figuratively stepping over generational bonds and circumventing debt through ample opportunity. I wished our figurative condition was equivalent to playing against high schoolers. However, we are competing on a global scale and have to find the resources ourselves.
It is our fault that we are unable to create opportunities, therefore, the elders must continue making decisions on our behalf.
I find it unsettling the current forces in power use “conservative” as an excuse for their choices.
These same people have decided your value in terms of insurability of body parts. The conservative estimate or your fingers is $10,000 to $20,000, increasing only if you are professionally dependent on your hands.
Financial institutions used to double your money in 7 to 10 years when put into a savings account [2]. This was happening when we were children. But we are incapable of making decisions that have positive longevity…
I put these facts out because these were decisions made on our behalf and we will have to live with them. These decisions are justified for a said “conservative” means but the ends do not value conservative ends – ends such as benefiting a family unit, allowing the young opportunities to prosper, or uphold community values. You can argue differently, but the fact remains older generations don’t trust younger generations to make the hard choice.
We are too soft. We care too much. We don’t grasp reality. We can’t make the hard choice.
So now we watch people through social media and see nothing wrong with their lives while critiquing ourselves. Shifting this reality into something positive and beneficial will take time. The systems in power can be collapsed in multiple ways. Allies exist all across the country. There is no aisle or ideological divide. American conservative and liberal is a singular point on the world stage. Our strength lies in agreeing.
Accepting the divisive decisions being made on our behalf is just the beginning. We will have to uphold our true values as they are tested. I’m glad my generation has the will to lead. We wouldn’t be in the streets protesting and causing riots if we were corrallable sheep.
Our failure stems from not being united. This fact has continues to allow an older generation in an advantageous position. The hardship from elders making decisions on our behalf will continue. We can only change the world we leave to the younger generation.
[3] Art – https://www.reddit.com/r/Art/comments/izkp3b/cerberus_flower_boy_me_oil_on_panel_2017/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Art/comments/izlqi3/the_full_monty_one_faraday_me_acrylic_and_paper/
I do not understand the plight of the African-American community. All minorities, including me an Asian-American practicing a minority religion – Hinduism, have benefited from their continuing movements. There should be no difference between us (whichever group you self-identify) and them.
Alas, Black Lives Matter more so than ever, and the least we can do is support the cause since all of us will benefit from the movement. Even the racist/prejudice folk – you are a minority in some shape or form.
Progress from the Plights of the Black Person. This one is rough.
African-Americans have suffered centuries of injustice likened to being treated less than animals. Slaves were a thing/property/object up until the 1860’s [1]. Even though Lincoln set them free (change them to 5/5 of man) these men, women, and children had no way of leaving their condition. Imagine becoming a full adult with the education of middle school and an entire life of submission (master says withhold food – slave complies and suffers retribution). The emancipated person’s life was already over – since they had a life expectancy of 21 years old with the only job qualification of being a slave [2]. Their legacy’s life was bound for continued systemic oppression.
Plight – 20 year old African-Americans now have the possible opportunity to get an education (equivocated as a job) and create a life for themselves. If you are Black, you have a 60% chance of coming from an uneducated family (40% chance as White where the sheer volume of White students eclipses all minorities) [3]. Also, if you are Black and from 2003, 33% of the men in your community will be jailed or have been at some point. These are harrowing facts of a current day Black American. The stigma for the jailed and erosion of rights is a lasting effect of systemic oppression – take away their rights to enact changes in the oppression system.
Even then (post-civil war) as with now, racism did not vanish overnight. Racism was prevalent both in the north and the south. Prejudices have remained strong in all communities. Lynching became an outcome of maintaining oppression for economic, social, migratory, and plain fuckery reasons [5]. From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States [6]; however, the recent Arbery lynching serves as a reminder that Black Lives Matters differently in different neighborhoods [7].
Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop. [8]
I bring lynching up to STRESS the effects it has on the psyche of Black Americans and frankly any minority group. Death is a somber event. But when death is brought early on through lynching, it becomes a message. We choose to heed the last message from our fallen or not. The message being – your life is an object that can be taken without major repercussion.
When will the life of a minority stop being considered a second class citizen?
Black men and women began creating wealth for themselves, but it was too much for Black Wall Street to exist (1920s), so it was burnt down along with innocent Blacks being massacred [9]. Even academics took advantage of the Black body. The Institution Review Board is a reactive solution for the Tuskegee experiment where unwitting Africans were live subjects harboring syphilis – an experiment that lasted over 40 years [10].
Cue our old racist/sexist/bigoted uncle Jim Crow using public laws (state and federal laws) to keep systemic oppression alive and well. New laws followed the 13th Amendment segregating colored folk. For the ones who couldn’t afford homes or live in a decent area, the urban ghetto was the solution.
Ever wonder how to make urban ghetto? Here is the recipe.
First, take a barren land with no industry or minable resources.
Second, cram in BUS loads of people from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Third, only create enough space for public transport, but ensure the physical infrastructure surrounding the ghetto prevents public transportation from reaching affluent economically-thriving areas [11].
Fourth, most critical, implement an overburdened and under-resourced public education system so children grow up underprepared while systematically maiming their ambition and drive.
Fifth, “sprinkle some crack,” as Dave Chappelle honestly states ( or a slew of vices into these communities..) while simultaneously enacting laws that primarily impact specific races WITH mandatory minimum sentencing – (necessary to break up the family unit and put mothers on social safety nets leading more children into the poverty cycle) [12]. While I had the fortune of studying under someone who addressed this modern Black plight using mixed-income neighborhoods and relocation programs, the housing and urban development department like the public education system remains overburdened and underfunded.
The true atrocity to the Black people is not the ghetto cage, it is the systemic reduction in wealth opportunities dating back to the 1920s. Black men joined the military and fought for our country. Only to return to second class options in the nation they defended. Housing programs for veterans and lending institutions (mortgage banks) for average Black men were blatant discrimination tactics used under the “lawful” equal but separate segregation standard. Public works projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority had villages for the whites and shacks for the Blacks because “negroes do not fit into the program” [13]. Then finally when a Black person secured housing in a white neighborhood, the remaining folk would sell their houses above market value to profit off of the flow and move elsewhere. In much of the 1900s, the African-American community was redlined, racially zoned, exclusionary zoned, denied loans, legally harassed, specifically targeted, and treated as second class citizens – I guess as 4/5 man.
But then we had change. Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Hugh P Newton among other activists who stepped up and created cascading changes for ALL MINORITIES only to be euthanized for giving minorities a voice while preventing mass bloodshed. I truly believe humanity has become far less violent in the past 50 years. But 50 years aint shit. Since then, a new form of systemic oppression was empowered – law enforcement. The way laws were enforced in minority communities vastly differ from affluent (who happen to be White) communities. One can raise the argument of gangs and drugs, but even those major issues are the produce of fertile urban ghetto grounds. Ground to rage systemic oppression tactics while wildly profittng. The urban ghetto plight is one that remains vibrant, but is now being addressed through forms of gentrification and cultural and educational movements.
As a minority, I understand the aforementioned facts as facts not legacy. I see the plight that was reserved for African-Americans now the plight of all young people who wish to be individuals. We live in a world were there is only intergenerational wealth opportunities. There are slim chances for you to become wealthier than your parent, especially as individual, while the American Dream fades [14]. While African-American continue to be targeted and subjugated, I implore you to understand what has caused their condition. Those are the lessons history will teach us. Those are the messages I heed. Making a dent through creating wealth for individual is the only chance we have at sidestepping systematic oppression in a capitalistic world.
Market competition on its own would lead to democratic anarchy NOT TARIFFS INDUCING BUYOUTS.
Foreign companies capture the same cost advantage that industrial efficiency and innovation has afforded (Figure W). When I say foreign company and you thought of a company in Shenzhen China or Paris France.
SZ
Market competition on its own would lead to democratic anarchy NOT TARIFFS INDUCING BUYOUTS.
Foreign companies capture the same cost advantage that industrial efficiency and innovation has afforded (Figure W). When I say foreign company and you thought of a company in Shenzhen China or Paris France.
Figure W. 2012 Solar Panel Cost Breakdown
That is fair.
However, a foreign company can afford 1 factory or 10 in the U.S. What good is a tariff on the same foreign companies using their purchasing power can say Made in America. This same foreign company can make a comparable investment, equating the tariff value, and circumvent paying the tax.
More competitive bargaining, less things getting cheaper. Golden Parachutes for few, job insecurity for many. More jobs, less wealth for job holders’ community.
Where do individual Americans profit? That job holder is at the mercy of a company that has no purposeful intention of reinvesting into surrounding community. When they invest, I would bet the PR is on blitzkrieg mode.
Tariffs were precisely used to give US companies a tactic advantage. Which could backfire. In this case,U.S. solar energy manufacturers can’t effectively compete with their global counterparts.
In the vain U.S. PV manufactured goods, Solarworld and Suniva filed a petition with the courts, International Trade Commission, seeking relief from specific solar cell global competitors (crystalline silicon voltaic cell) (United States International Trade Commission, 2017). The petition resulted in Section 201 – Solar Tariffs, placing a 30% tax on all crystalline silicon imports with certain contingencies. The tariffs benefited other types of PV manufacturers systems (both US and abroad) and US silicon PV manufacturers.
Figure T. Global Manufacturing as Whole
The tariff impacts have been projected in terms of loss of renewable energy investment, loss of employment, and reduction of PV deployment. The tariff can possibly help CdTe and CiGS PV systems gain market share away from the predominant silicon-based systems. Depicted in Figure F, thin film PV modules are 4.5 GWs of the 97.5 GWs produced in 2017. The tariffs reduce the overall function of cost, pressing consumers to consider health, environmental, and life-cycle impacts.
Figure F.PV Production Type
Section 201 Tariff Contingencies
Exceptions have been registered in the solar tariff. The tariff reduces by 5% per year and excludes the first 2.5 GW crystalline silicon cells per year (Solar Energy Industries Association, 2019). These cells are to be used by US manufacturers producing PV modules. Recently, bifacial silicon modules and cells were exempt from the tariff to remain at a competitive price, which was recently reverse (Merchant, 2020; National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2019).
New PV Manufacturing Factories
Another effect of the tariff has led to an increase in US PV production capacity. Foreign silicon PV manufacturers have built factories within the US. Jinko Solar (400MW), Heliene (130MW), LG Solar (500MW), and Hanwha Q Cells (1.6GW) have begun building factories in the US as a way to circumvent tariffs (Merchant, 2019).
Solarworld, one of the companies in the original petition, was bought out by Sunpower (French parent company Total S.A). The tariffs were costing Sunpower $2 million a week. Shortly after, the company requested an exemption for the investment or planned to close factories.
The solar labor market is largely a part of deployment. The solar industry employs 242,000 people throughout manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance, and recycling product life cycle in the U.S. (The Solar Foundation, 2018). The industry has seen a continual growth in employment until recently where the industry suffered a decline of 8,000 jobs. Tariffs do nothing for US manufacturing and increase the cost of tariffs for the end purchaser, the US consumer.
Merchant, E. (2019, Feb 25). The Status of US Solar Manufacturing, One Year After Tariffs. Retrieved from Green Tech Media: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/us-solar-manufacturing-status-tariffs#gs.t0nno6
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2019). Solar Industry Update. Washington, D.C.: United States Government.
Solar Energy Industries Association. (2019, Feb 6). Section 201 Solar Tariff. Retrieved from SEIA: https://www.seia.org/sites/default/files/2019-12/SEIA-Section-201-Factsheet-Dec2019.pdf
The Solar Foundation. (2018). National SOlar Jobs Census. The Solar Foundation.
United States International Trade Commission. (2017, August 14). USITC Hearing, Witness List – Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells. Retrieved from USITC: https://www.usitc.gov/external_relations/documents/wl1_081417.pdf
COVID19 is a problem for the human species. Regardless of its origin, no human is safe… We chose to clog the air and cast smog over our homes.
SZ
We can differentiate between
nationality, religion, and region classifications. But we have one thing in
common – we are and will remain human. The divisive rhetoric of China virus
provides the false narrative this is a foreign problem that has infiltrated our
community.
A partial lie goes a far way.
COVID19 is a problem for the
human species. Regardless of its origin, no human is safe. This is why I’m
willing to bet nature had this menace all along. The collective actions of our
species have created the ideal environmental conditions for COVID19. We (humans)
chose to have a globalizing society. We choose to put profit before people or the
environment. We chose to create multinational logistic systems that corroded
our self-reliance (rustbelt USA) (Crandall, 1993). We choose to propagate technologies
that eradicate hordes of species (pesticides). We chose to clog the air and
cast smog over our homes.
We know this. Nature has known this. The virus loves this.
All of us are complicit in this era we live in. Some fight for change, revolution, others for supremacy, power. The capitalist system treats each dollar the same, indifferent about person.
COVID19 Virus has compounding
effects in our present-day. Our sense of worry has been exploited in all the
wrong ways. We have a shortage of toilet paper in the midst of a respiratory
pandemic.
We are realizing how vulnerable our
elders are.
We are realizing how vulnerable our servers are.
We are realizing how vulnerable our healthcare workers.
All of which have been stripped of all their dignity.
Nothing against assisted living
facilities but at some point, you have to ask, is this industry able to
withstand the impending flood of elder folk? The increase in the older
population is only increasing. These death-homes (living moratoriums) were the
heaviest head at the beginning of the pandemic.
US citizens are beginning to see logistical
systems halting to an impasse. The same issues we face are affecting our
upstream production partners. Yes, resources are NOW being directed to compensate
for these losses, but the damage has already begun and effects won’t be seen
until weeks if not months later.
The service-based economy is frankly fucked for
the foreseeable future. While millennials were gas-lighted for eating out and
spending money through spending time, those servicing workers albeit in food,
hospitality or tourism have been and will remain the most vulnerable economic population.
They have no living wage, they have no equity, they are probably not even
claiming depreciation on their assets (car) used in the gig economy (Uber, Postmate,
etc.).
Most importantly, the healthcare
system or the new battleground. A system built for saving people is now sending
messages on spreading out resources as supplies inevitability diminish. These poor
(literally – from the sheer amount of debt they are carrying) bastards (the
unofficial mindset one must carry to “not bring the pain home”) are the new
soldiers in the front line of the battle. The COVID19 battle. One healthcare
worker referred to the industry as “working in retail where each customer has
diarrhea.” Whether they’re nice or not doesn’t matter, they are sick. COVID19 19
patients are growing at a historical rate but it is not the only thing
affecting US mortality. Thank these people, they are making a great sacrifice
for you and me to have a tomorrow.
These partial truths are used for
argument sake, but the results are the same. The brunt of this pandemic has yet
to be realized. For the ones that will point to 3% unemployment being easily
recovered, those 5.8 million people were known to not have employment then. That
number is about to reach 30% unemployment at 58 million people according to the
president of the Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis (Soergel, 2020). Look to your left, look to your right,
one of you is now out of a job.
This part of the article is not
about how the sausage (future) is made; it is about the effects of the sausage
we will probably eat and the sausage from a better tomorrow.
Sadly, this is probably going to happen:
We learn nothing from this
pandemic. No widespread reforms to healthcare and geriatric care will be made. No
changes will be made in securing a stable living wage for our fellow service
industry workers or workers in general. No ways for young Americans to build wealth
or accumulate assets will be made. The US infrastructure, be it healthcare infrastructure
(already overstressed by the current pandemic), civil infrastructure (USA
buildings, bridges, roads are at a D+ (ASCE, 2017)), production supply-chains
(heavily reliant on other nations), telecommunication (exorbitantly high pricing
for pathetic speeds) will remain overstressed and underfunded.
The COVID19 virus can have
cascading effects on tomorrow. (Fingers crossed)
These changes will require
serious attention to problems generalized above. The current reforms being made
to infrastructure are weak at best. These reforms are based on agendas that
have separate ulterior motives – is rarely a concerted effort equitably benefiting
US citizens. My favorite example is asked any new doctor how many schools they
apply to before getting into the school, let alone finishing. It is at least 10
to 15 submitted applications regardless of MD, OD, DD, PT.
First and foremost is taking action by balancing systems we have exploited for too long. We are being ravaged by a virus that preys on the respiratory system. We are also the ones that have put nature in a chokehold since the beginning of the first Industrial Revolution (1760). Environmental justice is a critical step in becoming resilient when the next inevitable pandemic strikes. The current pandemic has caused/allowed nature to enter into civilian territory.
Dolphins swimming in Venice.
Monkeys raiding Thailand. Pollution is literally dissipating.
We will be naïve to see these
environmental happenstances as a consequence of the virus as opposed to the
cause of the virus. Removing the pressures on nature requires systemic changes with
proper resources, not standing ovations at the UN.
Workers in the US economy deserve
to begin creating wealth for themselves. Currently, these opportunities are
only afforded by people with strong tailwinds or businesses that can leverage
debt.
Building wealth should be the
focus of young people, not earning enough to make rent. I understand poor
people are easier to coerce but even the bottom limits of what constitutes poor
can be raised. On the bright-hand side, the top earners, who capture most of the
new US income, are going to be the hardest hit by the pandemic.
Finally, health care, the awkward dinner topic at any table, be it at the family table or a fast food table. The effects of high sugar and fat diet are outside the scope of this article. We live in an era where CAPACITY is the issue. People are bound to use more and more health services as time goes on. Our current healthcare system is already hitting resource capacities at the ramp-up stage of the COVID19 pandemic.
Here, cascading changes will
affect entry into med school to geriatric care. This will require large sums of
capital and concerted efforts. The likelihood of these changes taking place
requires a different mindset. We cannot afford to think about I and me when it
comes to healthcare policy. Voting with your pocketbook only works in your
favor as long as your earning. Chances are you will need help when you start
shitting yourself because of a neurodegenerative disease. This help should be the
norm for all elderly people.
I believe in you getting that
help. Will I do it… maybe. I will make sure the younger generations do not squabble
about these issues.
Mother Earth is grounding all
humans and sending them to their rooms. What the hell does the spanking entail?
References
ASCE. (2017). America’s Infrastructure Score is a
D+. Retrieved from infrastructure report:
https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/making-the-grade/
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(2020). New Release. Washington D.C.: US GOV.
Crandall, R. (1993). The
Continuing Decline of Manufacturing in the Rust Belt. Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution.
Soergel, A. (2020, March 23rd). Fed Official Warns of 30% Unemployment. Retrieved from US News: https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2020-03-23/fed-official-unemployment-could-hit-30-as-coronavirus-slams-economy
The whole running thing started as a way of kicking it with a friend.
Years had gone by before I picked up another active lifestyle.
I hadn’t picked up a sport since wrestling and that made me non-vegetarian. This
time, I took a crack at a proper diet with exercise. Started at 2 miles eventually
getting talked into 13.1. Mind you, telling mile-long stories is now a hobbie.
This new operating level came with unknown limits. I thought to myself, I should take it easy. So, let us run a 15-mile desert trail relay race. Simple. Get to running 15 miles straight on a dirt gravel rocky unpaved shit trail. That should equate to doing partial loops over a day gradually reaching 16. Simple.
Or so I thought.
Race day came and we finally met the team. We were all camping in the middle of the desert. Even the moon was out. A perfect scene and we started the race.
That itybity moon
Lap 1. Yellow loop. Went without a hitch. No kankles. WoooO.
Lap 2. Green loop. This loop was different. The night air
was crisp. I could hear all sides of me. I knew nature was watching. And I was
bound to give her a show. Footsteps were gaining on me but I refused to turn
around. I knew this would lead to a loss. I press forward. No fucks given about
energy levels or pace. I had one shortsighted goal. Win the imaginary battle with
a person I had not seen… Do not let
that person pass.
I won the battle. My time placed me at the top of my group’s
set. But there was still 1 more lap.
Lap 3. Red loop. The hardest loop of the set and I am running it at 4 AM. No worries 6 miles will flash by. I get through mile 3 and my body quit. My pace was my reg walk, which is always less than slow. I’m at the halfway mark. My friend knows my pace and wont be too concerned until I traverse another 1.5 miles later.
Views while I stroll
There is no turning back. There is only putting one foot in
front of the other. I tried everything, ate my energy bar, drank water, but
nothing was working. I burnt out. I succumbed to my ego and washed over my
training. The price was my body. It quit. I hit my limit.
Won’t happen again but limits are endless.
Worst Best part is you can only find limits when you are at risk.
My Team
Place your bets. How long will it take me to finish a marathon?
UPDATE:
It took 5:10:49 and I raised over 700$ however, with Covid-19, I am keeping some space with my little since he and his fam are highly at risk. SZ
Battle without Boundaries- When Civilians are the Only Causalities
By Dark University
The cyber age has brought a spotlight on information technologies. Information or data in its various forms are strong indicators of a population’s traits and preferences. The value of this data has an untapped potential for geopolitical agendas. This trove of data is being used to push political agendas throughout global spaces. The utility of manipulating this data has become evident in the 2016 U.S. election and in cybercrimes across the globe making the general public of any society vulnerable. In the Russian case, Putin is capitalizing on Trump’s “obsolete” view of NATO and converting Trump’s ego into an asset for his agenda in becoming a Eurasian superpower (Glasser, 2017).
Data and information is an attribute of science and technology fields. Aggregating current troves of data would not be possible without the advent of complex computing systems and analysis of larger datasets. These datasets contain both qualitative and qualitative information. Example of data includes quantifiable metrics such resource usage, investment trends, and consumption habits. Qualitative data includes browser history and public opinion changes. This information can play a pivotal role in shaping public opinion.
Technologies have had an intimate relationship with science that has created new conquerable territories (Mendelsohn, 1989). During the Cold War, the U.S. had a lead in the atomic arms race, but the Soviet Union was able to compete within a decade (Mendelsohn, 1989). The collapse of the Soviet Union dissolved the region’s power structure. Putin’s Russia has a newfound strategy of taking advantage of a “technological environment” which has “created massive new vulnerabilities and new possibilities for mischief and accident” (Glasser, 2017). This strategy allows Russia to consolidate its power over its neighbors and enemies alike as well in different fields. Currently, dominating technologies is not the objective; the objective is not to destroy the U.S. but to weaken it (Glasser, 2017). Unlike the atomic arms race, the use of information technologies can be exploited to affect the masses of any society.
While the original threat of nuclear annihilation still exists, the new threat from controlling public perception can have a new set of negative consequences. The use of information and data is not completely understood. The sheer amount of reliance on technologies that bolster vulnerabilities is a real threat to any society. How information is stored, transmitted, sold, and analyzed needs to be under increasing scrutiny. Revolutionizing security standards for the general public would be a good start to the addressing information technology issues. The potential of personal information and data as a battlefront is yet to be completely understood.
References
Glasser, S. (2017, December 22). Trump, Putin and the New Cold War. Retrieved from Politico: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/22/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-cold-war-216157
Mendelsohn, E. (1989). Science, Scientists, and the Military. Michigan: Kluwer Academics.
