A global pandemic calls for global solutions

During the pandemic and having to shelter at home, any good discussion on the pandemic becomes interesting and an almost must view. And this talk from Larry Brilliant is, yes as you may have guessed, Brilliant.

Examining the facts and figures of the coronavirus outbreak, epidemiologist Larry Brilliant evaluates the global response in a candid interview with head of TED Chris Anderson. Brilliant lays out a clear plan to end the pandemic -- and shows why, to achieve it, we'll have to work together across political and geographical divides. "This is not the zombie apocalypse; this is not a mass extinction event," he says. "We need to be the best version of ourselves."

De-stressing

COVID-19 and staying at home is stressing us in ways we can't begin to imagine.

And I was looking for ways to de-stress. While learning something interesting. And naturally, most of the things I found were serious. And not enjoyable.

And I finally found a talk, which was more like a show. I enjoyed it. And the fact that I'm fascinated by magic was for me the cherry on the top.

A magical search for a coincidence
Helder Guimarães

Small coincidences. They happen all the time and yet, they pass us by because we are not looking for them. In a delightfully subtle trick, magician Helder Guimarães demonstrates with a deck of cards, a dollar bill and a stuffed giraffe.

p.s.: I don't learn anything from this. But I enjoyed it. And as my daughter once told me, "Everything doesn't have to be a teaching or learning moment."

How will the pandemic end?

The question that all of us are thinking at this time when we are sheltered at home is how will this pandemic end. Especially since it has now been almost 2 months and there seems to be no end in sight. This almost hour-long conversation as part of the TED Connects series lays out a compelling plan for ending the pandemic. Check it out.


An ethical plan for ending the pandemic and restarting the economy

As COVID-19 continues to spread, the world is facing two existential threats at once: a public health emergency and an economic crisis. Political theorist Danielle Allen describes how we can ethically and democratically address both problems by scaling up "smart testing," which would track positive cases with peer-to-peer software on people's cell phones -- so we can end the pandemic and get back to work.

COVID-19

COVID-19 has taken over the world. Figuratively and Literally. And there's a lot of misinformation being spread through social media. And what has bewildered me is that normal rational people have been sharing these conspiracy theories with captions like "Could this be true?", clearly assuming there may be some truth to the conspiracy theory. Even when there's absolutely no facts or science or even a reasonable theory to back it.

Here are 3 of my favorite talks from the ever reliable TED that are relevant to COVID-19 and would be helpful for viewers to make more educated judgements on what they view and what they share.

How pandemics spread

How we must respond to the coronavirus pandemic
Bill Gates
- TED Connects

What the world can learn from China's response to the coronavirus
Gary Liu
- TED Connects

There are several interesting ones that you can check out at:
https://www.ted.com/

Also check out this blog:
https://blog.ed.ted.com/2020/02/06/understanding-the-outbreak-of-a-virus/