The Mechanical, Psychological, and Biological Interventions of a Pandemic

The Mechanical, Psychological, and Biological Interventions of a Pandemic With Johnson and Johnson also pausing it’s #Covid19 #vaccine trial, it is becoming clearer to more of the public, that the long steady path to a vaccine is not something that can be rushed for anyone’s political agenda or preferred view of the world.

We’re learning about and just about have the mechanical interventions worked out – mask wearing, social distancing, continual hand washing and where needed restrictions of movement to ever small circles to stop infection spread.

We don’t yet have a full handle on the psychological interventions – supporting individuals and society placed into smaller circles to stop the spread. Many businesses have done a great job at allowing their staff to find ways to connect whilst at home. Schools and familial disconnections seems harder, and the ideological space harder again.

And the biological intervention, despite the ideological wish-list and myth-making could be years off because it plays in the realm of scientific truth – best knowledge for now, not final knowledge for now. In that space it is always open to new discoveries, some pleasant, some less so. But no amount of myth-making will bring the vaccine to fruition sooner. And myth-making that claims it will, places an ever increasing burden on the psychological and mechanical interventions that have kept many people safe

Xmas and all that paper

Dec 24, 2015

In parts of the world it’s Christmas day, a time for excusing your retail spending on a ‘worthy cause’. Which is fun in some ways and delusional in others 🙂 Don’t allow my grinchness deter you from enjoying today. As for me, I’m delighted that a) my present was wrapped in old newspaper and b)…

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Victorian Election – who should you* vote for?

Nov 25, 2015

Part of being effective as a futurist is being able to assess potential issues and their impact over time. The Victorian State Election is on this Saturday and though many say that State elections have little bearing on issues we face, our system means that the fluctuations at a Federal level are often countered by…

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Curing Brain Cancer One Fund-Raiser at a Time

Oct 16, 2015

‘m wrapped to be acting as EmCee for the third year in a row at Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope event, raising money to find a Cure for Brain Cancer. And delighted that the event has sold out. But fret not – you can still bid for some great auction items online or make a…

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Memo PM Turnbull – Your First 100 Hours

Sep 14, 2015

The major party in Australia’s dual party Government, the Liberal Party, has removed their leader Tony Abbott, replacing him with the previous leader, Malcolm Turnbull. PM designate Turnbull may be inclined to spend the first few days appeasing and reassuring his party members that everything will be okay. And that would be a mistake. Public…

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Picking the Right Futurist for Your Strategic Insights

Sep 11, 2015

When I look at my overall client types, it seems to me that I have two main types of client. The first is a client that has a good business and is generally successful and wants a futurist to help keep them ahead of emerging issues and opportunities. The second main client type is one…

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The Outsider’s view of the Inside Futures

Aug 26, 2015

As a consultant, one of the great puzzles I consistently discover is the mindset many clients hold with regard to their own abilities to conceive of and pursue, their own approach to futures thinking. I know this is not an issues restricted to futurists as where some clients have a ‘not invented here’ approach to…

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What the Weather Bureau can do to help this Drought

Aug 17, 2015

I’m going to come back to an idea I first floated back in 2004. By and large it is hard to change societal perceptions. Doing so requires on going effort, time and often resources like money to create marketing campaigns of some description. Unless you have a crisis. And right now it might be fair…

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How to Stop Japanese Whaling in its Tracks

Aug 17, 2015

Whilst I appreciate the efforts that Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd and the various Australian Governments have given regarding their aims to have the Japanese cease their annual whale harvests, I’m not quite sure they are tackling the issue through the best means available. Sure the confrontational approach of ramming ships, climbing aboard vessels, getting in the…

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The Quick Low-Down of Corporate Visions and why they Fail

Jul 2, 2015

I’ve just read an article about Corporate Visions and getting employees on the same page. And as happens so often, I shook my head because it offered the same flawed advice about what a leader needs to do to get their employees to buy into the Vision. And therein lays the fatal flaw You CANNOT…

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How California can Learn from the Australian Experience of Drought

Jun 3, 2015

As the drought in California continues to bite hard on the lives of millions, a recent article on Triple Pundit suggested that many people want to help save water, they just don’t know what else to do. Which is why California needs to look beyond its borders to the driest inhabited continent on the planet…

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