I know that if I call up my best buddy and say, hey man, can you help me move a house? Because I need a strong man to lift a fridge. He's going to say yes, because he and I have been moving each other's fridges for a decade. Because the way that we develop, especially those friendships in the early years of high school and college, when people are thrown in and they're working together on projects, they're assisting each other. It's when people don't have a lot of cash, so people are bailing each other out. The number of times that we've lent money to each other or crashed on each other's couches or bought each other a meal when someone was broke, these things accumulate as levels of investment which leads into trust. So it's quite difficult as you get older to make new guy friends. Has anyone ever tried to take a guy on a date? It's weird.  Do I wait three days? How do I do this? It's kind of awkward. And as a result, most people's social circles, it's not the only reason, but most people's social circles tend to diminish after that early time when people are all social and thrown in together in university or early workforce. And over time, that calcifies into a small core group of friends, which is fine if you're living with a core group of really progressive, interesting, outgoing, insuity of open-minded people, but sucks if you're hanging around the same guys that you were hanging around in high school who are still just smoking bongs and watching TV and whinging and whining about their lives. Because yes, you do resonate more or less at the frequency of those groups that you're hanging around. And men operate best when they are in tribal group units of six detainees men who support each other who have levels of reciprocal altruism or cross connections. And then they also wither and die when they're in groups that don't support each other correctly. The three main types of groups of males that I've noticed ones where the limitations of what hold people together and it's really important that you take stock of your own personal groups that you hang around with, figure out are they a group that where the connecting pieces are your limitations. And by that, I mean whinging and whining together, wasting time together, distracting each other, abusing each other's bodies, right? These kinds of groups are very, very common. And if you're operating in that group, it's very hard to break out of it. Other ones are where there are fairly strict hierarchies, which is where there is an alpha male or someone who's kind of in charge. And then there are people who fit into subordinate roles right down to the people at the bottom who are there as comic relief or to be teased or to be taken advantage of. And these are also common groupings that you'll find with males, right? Where being part of the group means that you have to fit within a hierarchy and defer to one particular person. This is also a very unhealthy group to be a part of, unless you're the guy at the top, and the guy at the top is not going to be inspired to move any further anyway. And then there are really powerful, effective groups where there is a shifting dynamic of hierarchy and the thing that holds the group together is reciprocal trade, is an exchange of these non-financial currencies, which I'll talk about in a moment, in order for all the people in the group to benefit. I've been a leader of multiple groups now for many years. Originally, we had funk bands, then moving into various business ventures which led me into building the natural lifestyles, which is now a 13-person crew spanning with people in Singapore and Serbia and Austria, Australia and wherever it is that the coaches are bouncing around at any time. The only way that I'm able to hold this dynamic group together as a leader is understanding that the best way to get what you want is to make sure that everyone around you is getting what they want, right? And that the best way to have a group that is solid and works together is to make sure that everyone's self-esteem, bank account and happiness is rising with yours. And so the group that I hold together, although I am the boss, I'm also very willing to subordinate myself to other members of the group depending on the needs of the group. For example, one of us brings a girl home and currently myself and the coaches mostly live together so this happens a lot. In a group where there's a rigid hierarchy or where there is a mutual knocking down of each other constantly, what happens when the dude brings the girl in? There's bickering, the guys start teasing each other. They make fun of the dude who's brought the girl home. They sit in the lounge room around there while he's trying to make a move on it.  When any one of us brings a girl into the group in my world, instantly I shift from being the boss to being the polite and slightly bumbling friend who's just gonna grab you a cup of tea if you'd like it. I'm not trying to be cool. I'm not trying to impress. I'm not trying to show that I'm alpha, anything like that. I'm immediately subordinating myself to Liam or Tony who ever came in with the girl because I know that's gonna make it easier for him to get the job done and it's gonna mean that the girl walking into this environment goes, oh yeah, this is a cool place to be. These guys are fun, they're interesting, but they're not hitting on me and they've all left us alone so we can make out on the couch. We had recently a situation where Tony brought a girl home and some guys had been working on the house and they'd taken the door off his room. So he walked in with a girl and then there's no door on his room which he wasn't expecting.    Meaning of course, the Tony gets laid and his job as real wingman is actually done because what does it mean to be an actual wingman? It's not the dude you stand next to in the bar waiting to approach chicks. That's like half a percent of what a real wingman is. It's the guy that has your back at every turn because you know that both of you have each other's back at every turn meaning that everybody wins over time. So how is it if you want to fast track building new social networks? Because if you're doing a stock take of yours and going, it's not so good. And the guys may be lovely people, they may be dudes that you'd like to hang around but they're not go-getters. They're not guys who are going to go out and hit on girls regularly. They're not necessarily people that have got the same passion and vision that you do. So you want to go and find new networks because it is really vitally important. Just being that laptop entrepreneur by yourself on the beach is not the end point. Having networks of men around you and not just one but having multiple ones within your own city and then starting to think nationally, globally if you can and reaching those out around the world means that eventually you can set up syndicates of these groups of guys around the world. This is what I currently do and I call it the International Couch Mafia which was developed when I first came to the 21 convention in 2011, I think it was in London. I was broke and I was staying on the couch of some friend of a fans who was way out in Whistle was a wharf, some place where you didn't want to be well out of the center of London. And so I came in, did my speech and then I met the artist formerly known as Sasha Daygame who's now going by his real name. Everyone knows who Sasha is surely, yes? I hope so, he's a very funny and lovely person. And we met after the speech and we chatted and we got on well. And this is the underlying point of the seductive economy is that there needs to be, if you want to learn how to supercharge your connections with people, it's not about this kind of surface level networking where I go and I force a smile and I hand a business card and I said, let's do a deal sometime. The underlying currency that everybody wants, that everybody really wants to trade on is being understood, listened to, having connection. It's the human emotions that are the most valuable. The reason why I am so seductive or so successful as a people person is not because I have the best game, I don't. It's because when I'm with somebody, I drop into my own space and into their space, I look them clearly in the eyes and I stay with them. And then when I ask them something, I listen. When they tell me something, I'm really present with them. I don't just say what they want to hear, I'll challenge them. And in this way, I'm having a true connection with somebody. This is again why the skill of seduction is the ultimate male skill. Anyone had the experience where they've seen someone in their workplace who is not the best at the job climb faster than everyone else?  Or was that you? Or was it some other guy? That guy, right. The people that do the best in life are not the people who are necessarily the greatest specialists at their thing. It's the people who do the job well and are really, really good people people. Yeah, they're very good human communicators. Because the reality is the boss wants to hang around with somebody probably that they like to hang around with that they understand.  They just look at me in a strange way. They're just a little bit to something, just something feels wrong and so I don't want to be around them. And then I've met other guys who are definitely very good with the ladies, good at teaching and we vibe and connect and I want to spend time with that person. So the underlying currency of the seductive exchange is true human emotions. However, in order for us to cement those relationships and speed them up, then what I can do is utilize these four actions or a combination of them to ask, to offer, to trade and to collaborate. Because as I said before, if there's no reaching out of me giving something or actually asking for something or swapping of these currencies, then it doesn't really hold men together properly. Men build their social circles based around trust, loyalty.  If you steal his cash, it's over. These are the deal breakers between groups of men typically and groups of men are suspicious of other groups of men. They either go into allyship with them or they're in competition with them and it's important that this group has a solid understanding of what the code is. And a lot of that comes to do with the only way that we can understand that this is real is to test it.  I'll give them access to small amounts of money or connections or girls and see what they do with it.  So if you want to step out and create new dynamic social networks, then the first thing you need to do is target.


I like many people today. I'm an optimist. This strange condition began when I was 15 years old. That was 1996. I discovered that a future of human knowledge is on the web, and my textbooks were all out of date. So I told my teachers I want to quit school and start my education on the web. Surprisingly, my teachers all agreed with it. A year later, I founded a startup working on web technologies. I got to join this fabulous internet community that runs with this crazy idea, an open grassroots political system that powers the internet to this day. Today, as Taiwan's first digital minister, I'm putting into practice the ideas that I learned when I was 15 years old. Rough consensus, civic participation, and radical transparency surprisingly is working and is transforming our society. In 2016, our president, Dr. Tsai Ing-wen, made an inspiring statement in her inauguration speech. She said, Before democracy was a clutch between two opposing values, but now democracy must become a conversation between many diverse values. Instead of being the arbiter torn between different sides, our government can now ask a different set of questions. We would ask, What are our common values despite different positions? And then we ask, What are the common values? Can we find solutions that works for everyone? This is the spirit of co-creation and civic technology. It's a branch of technology that enables millions of people to listen to each other instead of just one person speaking to millions of people. In the past couple years, Taiwan has been consistently ranked among the best in the world on pandemic resilience and economic growth. And this was because we adopted digital democracy as our national direction since 2014. It was catalyzed and epitomized by an occupied movement in March 2014. There was a live demo of mass participation. We occupied the parliament peacefully for 22 days. At the time, the MPs in Taiwan they were refusing to deliberate a trade service agreement with Beijing. So the occupiers got into the parliament at night and stayed there. For 22 days, we demonstrated how to deliberate a trade service agreement with a whole society. There were over 20 NGOs participating, the Greens, the Labour, the Independents, everybody. And we supported this deliberation process with a radically transparent broadcasting, live streaming and logistics system which we also exported to Hong Kong for the umbrella movement in the same year. Powered by this community called GovZero, GovZero or G0V is a civic tech community with a call to fork the governments. We take the government websites which all ends in GOV.tw and make better open alternatives that ends in G0V.tw. For example, the annual national budget in 2012, it was hundreds of pages long. In a PDF file, it was very hard to read. The GovZero community's very first project was budget.g0v.tw, which shows the national budget in a way that everybody understands and you can draw down to each and every budget details. And today, this system is adopted by many city governments and powers our national participation platform at join.gov.tw. Anyone can just look at the map, find a part of the budget they care about and type in any question they want to ask and a career public servant actually comes forward and answers that part of the question. So it became a direct dialogue platform not through the city councillors but for the career public servants to communicate with citizens. So why are there so many civic technologies in Taiwan? Like me, I spoke to my clients during the sunflower movement at Apple University Press of Oxford and Social Text. I said, OK, I have to take a three-week leave because democracy needs me. I think it's because our generation and 40 now were the first generation to enjoy freedom of speech after three decades of martial law and dictatorship. And that freedom arrived in 1989, the year of personal computers. For us, the personal computer revolution and freedom of speech is the same thing. Our first presidential election by popular votes in 1996 was also the year that the World Wide Web got popular. So the internet and democracy do not do things. They're one and the same thing in Taiwan. For the past 30 years, when we see free software, we always think of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and never free of cost because we know that freedom is never free of costs. Our parents' generation, our grandparents' generation paid dearly for it and we need to use the software freedoms to keep it free, as we did during the sunflower movement in 2014. The movement caused a revolution, although a peaceful revolution. There was a radical transformation of social expectations at the end of 2014 and many supporters just found themselves elected mayors when they did not expect it. The occupiers and the civic technologists who supported them, we were invited as mentors, advisers to the public service to solve emerging issues such as Uber. Now, Uber is very interesting because it started as a meme, a virus of the month in 2015. And the meme was called Sharing Economy and it says that algorithms dispatch cars better than laws so we don't have to obey laws. That meme spreads through the apps, from drivers to passengers to drivers. You can't really argue with a meme, just like you can't argue with the common flu. It's not even in the same category. So there were protests. The taxi drivers surrounded the Ministry of Transportation demanding negotiation. But how do we negotiate with a virus of the month? For us, the solution is through deliberation that involves thousands of stakeholders. It's a scaling down of the deliberation we did on the street with half a million people so we think we can do it. Delibration, thinking deeply about something together, that's an effective vaccine against the virus of the month. When everyone, passengers, drivers, academics, public servants, when they listen to each other and form a consensus, we become collectively immune to devices PR campaigns and to conspiracy theories in the future. A proper deliberation with the focus conversation method involves four stages. The first stage is facts where we collect evidence, first-hand experiences and objective data. And after that is confirmed, we move to collect everyone's feelings about those same facts. You may feel angry, I may feel happy and it's all okay. After people converge on their feelings that resonates with everybody, we then talk about ideas. The best ideas are the ones that address the most people's feelings. And then we translate them into legalese and we sign them into decisions. However, if the decision-making process is not self-transparent, then people on the street would speak a different language than people in the government, so they're not even agreeing on basic facts, let alone each other's feelings. And in that situation, ideas evolve to become ideologies, virus of the month so potent that they can blind people to new facts and to each other's feelings. And so it's not the common flu anymore. So our first step is always open data, that is to say to make all the facts available and asking the economic sector and the social sector to share what they have. And next, we created this interactive survey of feelings on Poles to ask people how they feel. Four groups of people soon emerged, taxi drivers, Uber drivers, Uber passengers, and other passengers. The Poles system shows each group how their shared sentiments are received by other groups. And the interesting thing is it lowers people's antagonism. Because you see all these people on different sides. They're your Facebook and your Twitter friends. We just didn't talk about this over dinner. So at the beginning, the people were all on the different corners. But because we say we only give binding, a gender-setting power to anything that people can propose that convinces a super majority. There's 80% of people here. So the participants converged gradually on feelings that resonate not just with like-minded people, but across the aisle. So instead of distracting, we attracted consensus. And after we got a set of feelings that resonates with practically everybody, it's now much easier for the government to meet with all the stakeholders, check with them one by one. We'll say, here is the consensus of the people from this pro-social social media. Do you agree? If you do agree, how do we translate that into law? So they're bound to the words they said during the live stream consultation. And the stakeholders, they agreed. When we ratified their agreements in August 2016, everybody knew it was coming. And everybody anticipated it. So for years now, Uber operates legally as a local taxi under the new framework. But so did the taxi companies, local co-ops, temples, and churches, who are all adopting the same model that Uber was using for dispatching its costs. So our next question is, can we scale this process of listening? Right after the ratification, I joined the cabinet as digital minister in 2016 to explore this possibility through PEDIS, the public digital innovation space. As a digital service at a national level, we work with designers, programmers, and facilitators. We automated away a lot of this chores that the public servants are doing in order to make room for participation. But even more interesting than the technological contributions is a culture that we're bringing to the government. For example, I'm a radically transparent digital minister. And by that, I mean all the journalists, all the lobbyists, everybody gets to ask me questions by early answer publicly. It's not just the lobbyists and journalists, but also for internal inter-agency meetings. For all the hundreds of meetings that I have chaired since I became the digital minister, everything was transcribed. There was a written record for everything everybody said during meetings, and we send them to participants afterwards to check for 10 working days and then we publish. The effect of this is very surprising. The public servants actually become quite innovative and even risk-taking. They propose some very good ideas under this condition and that's because previously, before radical transparency, they would get a blame if things go wrong and the minister would get a credit if things go right. And now with this radically transparent record, if things go right, they get a credit because their name is on the transcript, but because it's an experimental method, if things go wrong, it's all the digital minister's fault. So under this condition, they become very innovative and open to a lot of interesting ideas. One of the ideas is adopting this co-creation cybersecurity platform, called SESTOR. As our public service infrastructure, we can now host the community tools, such as Git, HackMD, RocketChat, precisely as how the developer community is organizing on the open internet these days. And we have a lot of interesting system proposed, written by the young public servants, like apps for ordering lunch together, to plan travels together, whatever. It's really good to have this choice to amplify their innovations. Also, we co-created a petition platform as a way for people to participate. It's like the We the People platform in the US. But the US system, as I understand it, it did not receive the same level of attention as in Taiwan, perhaps because for cross-ministry issues, people would sometimes get those bureaucratic answers that just explains the issues rather than resolving them. So we asked all 32 ministries to build a team of participation officers. Now in Taiwan, when people start a petition and collect 5,000 signatures, they know instead of just a duty for response, they will actually get to meet with all the relevant ministries, either in Taipei or Capital City, or we will travel to those rural areas and remote islands if they are petitioning for local development. Twice a month, we would meet to resolve issues together without exposing any public servants to risk. So gradually, we relieved their fear, uncertainty, and doubt around civic participation. For example, a petitioner in May 2017 rallied Mac and Linux users around the fact that national income text filing software was explosively hostile to use. And instead of just explaining the problem, our participation officers invited everyone who complained the loudest to co-create the new text filing system. And through this kind of co-creation, people learned that they can contribute their expertise, not just as complaints, but as fellow contributors. And by collaborating with the social sector, we're building a robust environment suitable for social innovators where the power of civil society could be brought into full play. And the venue we hold these collaboration meetings is called the Social Innovation Lab. I personally provide my office hours at a lab every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Provided my visitor agrees to have our conversation posted online. Anyone interested in social entrepreneurship is welcome to have a discussion with me. And at different regional cities, social innovators, they gather around me when I tour around Taiwan. Although it's just me that travels, everybody else remains in Taipei. We still have good video conference and transcription services that makes it very easy to see the local problems being resurfaced and being resolved in a very quick fashion, because all the related ministries are there on the telecommunication service. And once the people's co-create the solutions, they got understood by the ministries. Even unrelated ministries can say, okay, so the way we resolve the text filing system, they can also be used to distribute medical grade masks and to book vaccines. A recent example is coming up with an effective solution to contact tracing. To eliminate community transmission, contact tracing must be done in a way that makes sure that we don't put ourselves into a dilemma of having to choose between protecting privacy on one hand and preventing the public health crisis on the other hand. However, rolling out a mandatory government app, it will likely backfire, as we have seen in many other countries. So instead of centralizing contact tracing data or yielding control to multinational corporations, we sought social sector solutions, not for the people, with the people. In May 2021, civic technologists in the G0V GovZero community invented the mechanism of contact tracing based on text messages. We worked across sectors with telecom carriers to deploy the 192 SMS contact tracing system in just a week. By scanning the QR code with your phone's built-in camera, sending a toll-free text message, people can keep track of their itineraries. And this allows contact tracers to confirm the footprints of infected people and their contacts without revealing any private information to venue owners. And this collaboration cannot happen without strong trust across sectors. Of course, we need to breach the digital gap for the elderly and visually impaired. So contact tracing, it can still be done through measures such as handwriting and stepping. But when contact tracers apply for information about certain phone numbers, they must submit requests through this platform to brass them. And the phone number holder can then reverse-audit contact tracers' requests and activities. All records are deleted after 28 days. And because the civic tech originated from a community that always valued personal data sovereignty, we can respond to new challenges to privacy with timely improvements. For instance, text messages sent to 192.2 were discovered by a judge using a police search warrant. Fortunately, the multi-party security design prevented the police from accessing the mapping between the random codes and the specific venues. So the judge denied the warrant and publicly questioned the legality of wiretapping texts sent to 192.2. And following discussions, the Ministry of Justice concluded that the 192.2 SMS does not constitute communication under the Communication Security and Surveillance Act and, therefore, should not be repurposed for law enforcement keeping the original civic intent intact. Rule by the people is the original intent of democracy. In the face of global threats, such as the pandemic and the infodemic, the Taiwan model shows to the world that this people-public-private partnership with the people can shape a digital democracy. To give no trust is to get no trust. Trusting citizens to participate in policymaking can form shared goals, develop innovative solutions, and contribute to the world. And now, I would like to share with you my job description as Taiwan's digital minister. When we see the Internet of Things, let's make it an Internet of Beings. When we see virtual reality, let's make it a shared reality. When we see machine learning, let's make it collaborative learning. When we see user experience, let's make it about human experience. And whenever we hear that a singularity is near, let us always remember the plurality is here. And now, it's your turn to co-create this plurality with democracy-affirming technologies, working with the people, not just for the people. Imagine, how can we enable better civic participation and dialogue between citizens and governments? At this very moment, the need to rebuild trust is essential. In the long run, the need to rethink how a democracy runs and how civic participation manifests. That's crucial. So think about today's reliable infrastructures that makes our lives safer and more convenient. Civic infrastructures in the digital realm does the same for democracy. Consider, in 2015, civic technologies invented Airbox, a low-cost air quality tracker adopted by many schools and household balconies. Citizens science supplemented our government's limited capacity and paved the way for data stewardship and environmental education. The following year, we initiated the CIVO IoT Taiwan program, which expanded the network to industrial areas. At that time, there were around 2,000 devices, and today, there are tens of thousands. For the next step after sharing data, consider forming shared goals through assistive intelligence. For instance, many passengers welcomed Uber's entry to Taiwan in 2015, but also triggered taxi driver discontent. With help from the GovZero community, our governments utilized the PODIS system to invite stakeholders to resonate with each other's feelings, and we have learned that shared values are hiding in plain sight. For example, safety is a value on which all parties agree, and the rough consensus was that drivers need to have professional licenses, purchase insurance, and pay taxes. It's all ratified in the diversified taxi program of 2016. And the same idea also works for global topics. During the past couple years, the AIT-AD40 digital dialogues and the co-hack hackathon both used the PODIS system. With a visualized spectrum of ideas, participants around the world can see where they stand compared with others, so we can reflect and co-create a good enough consensus. And finally, think about how to institutionalize the rapid deployment of social innovations. Taiwan's presidential hackathon has been held for four consecutive years, with thousands of social entrepreneurs and public servants participating alongside teams from dozens of countries to contribute to public digital goods. Five teams each year receive this trophy, carrying the presidential promise of support in the next fiscal year. So, let's start small and think local. The platforms, the plans, processes, and products in the plurality would serve as bridges between communities and government bodies, as I've said in my keynote. To give no trust is to get no trust. As democracies, we must trust our fellow citizens. Thank you for listening. Live long and prosper.


I started playing it in July 2017 back when it was released 11 months ago now and I only finished it a week or maybe two depending on when this video comes out ago at the end of May 2018. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Pyre is God damn it this game has the most beautiful vibrant living colors I have ever seen. Every single scene in this game could be a wallpaper. Every single scene in this game is something I would much prefer to have surrounding instead of the white walls of my apartment. There's something to be said about a game developer who can put out such a remarkable amount of stunning video games just on a purely graphical standpoint. But there is so much more going in Pyre than just the beautiful outer layer than the graphical presentation. I'm talking about deep characters, the mixing of possibly three video game genres and somehow making this product work. A deep world, I don't know how to count my fingers, a very deep world, fantastic characters again and very fun to listen to, blabber a language that the characters speaking whenever you read their messages, pardon whenever you read the text their dialogue. It's something very strange and unlike anything I have ever played before there's a lot to say about Pyre so I'm just going to put a few things out here. I'm going to run through my favorite features of the game and it's going to be fun hopefully. The graphics are well and fine but we all know it takes a lot more to make a game worthwhile or at least we all should know maybe the voice that dies don't. I'm looking at you but from too I'm looking at you. What does this game have going for it? Detail by detail. First of all Darren Corb once again returns in the world of gaming with a fantastic acoustic and vocal presentation that simply makes this world much more believable much more exotic and nothing short of sublime to listen to. I have spent hours since I finished the game just listening again and again to my favorite tracks and even those that I don't like as much as my favorite ones they are worth listening to many times over. Take listen to this for example. The home is known as the common world and it is not a nice place not at all. For one reading is outlawed so if you've got books and if you can read you will be sent into exile into this horrible wasteland where the game takes place. With a player's say the role of the reader who obviously reads and takes control guides his fellow exiles into three-on-three matches of very strange sports. Yes it's it's like basketball. If you consider individuals throwing themselves into the enemy's pyre in order to diminish it. A regular thing that happens in basketball and yes they are holding a ball and yes they can throw the ball in the pyre if they want. A lot of the time you spend while playing the visual novel you will be making choices and these choices have a lot of outcomes.  It's a lot of fun first of all. Second of all there's no lose state no defeat state. What I mean to say is that no matter how many times you lose at dangerous fiery basketball you will keep moving forward. Sure you can go back and restart while you're still in the match. You can restart the match and try your hand at winning but if you lose and you shouldn't be afraid to lose if and when you lose more like losing is a part of the story. When you lose things happen. Things that wouldn't happen otherwise and things which are quite interesting. If I had anything to say about it I would say try not to lose but when you do don't restart the match you're playing. It might seem like it's worth it if you're going after some lofty goal to win but I think it takes away from the experience of the game. This game has been crafted with the idea that you cannot lose not in the game over end state. No your losses just add to your own continued story and I think that's very unique that's very interesting it's not the first game to have done it certainly but I think it adds something unique to the story something that I personally really enjoyed and something that took me in a direction I did not expect. How about the characters themselves? In a game which is three-fifths text based the writing of characters can make or break the game. In here as before supergiant games do not disappoint. I have enormous respect and admiration for the guys who are writing these games none of the adventures we've seen so far neither bastion nor transistor nor pioneer now have anything resembling weak writing even though some people I seem to recall did not like transistor as much as they like bastion I still thought it was a very powerful game with a very very interesting story and my favorite game of 2014 probably probably the thing is past characters are all memorable they're all interesting the way you play the game and communicate with your fellow exiles will very much add to their personalities you can change them you can learn lessons from them and teach them lessons of your own and those will often stick so the thing is what you're trying to do is you try to liberate your fellow nightwings through a liberation right which is just one more of those basketball games fire basketball games but with a lot more stakes on the side if your team wins one of your exiles will go on to be liberated if your team loses the leader of the enemy team will then of course go on to be you know liberated on his or her own and sometimes that can have some pretty horrifying effects I think I think the thing is who do you decide to liberate first because if it's your favorite character or your most useful character or your most powerful character you go on for the rest of the game without ever playing with that character so it was that I the first liberation right I chose Hedwin who was my primary player and I really loved interacting with him I absolutely enjoyed spending time conversing with Hedwin in between matches and while traveling inside this wasteland whose name I completely forgot it just absolutely slipped away the thing is once I sent him to be liberate liberated he was gone and this relationship was gone and so it was very bittersweet and every liberation right I won was very bittersweet because I saw friends rather the reader saw friends he loved friends he he cared about those friends they were no longer there and that that is a very interesting thing they did at Supergiant Games they managed to make you care about people so you want them to get out of their exile to go back home to help build up on this plan that spoilers all about taking the Commonwealth down and changing things around true peaceful means not true weapons of war so it is that you lose people you lose your best players because also you can't you can't send whoever you can't send your weakest characters your characters they have ranks from one to five and you need to be at least ranked three I think in order to have your characters sent on their way now that makes for a moral choice of sorts do you send the ones you least liked because well you know once they're outside you can keep spending time with your favorites but then how is that fair to your favorites right because they deserve maybe they deserve freedom more than those guys you just send because you don't like them because they're pricks although I have to say no one in the team is actually a prick I don't think there's some because some are more likable than others that's I think completely normal but none of them are pricks none of them are unlikeable all of them have a story to tell they have their personal stories they have their personal lives they are living breeding characters all of whom I think were written really really really well and all whom you want to see freed and when you mess up and you don't win a liberation rights you feel bad because at some point you realize the liberation rights are finite so no matter what you do you will never release everyone so that just adds yet another yet another issue to what you have to consider as you pick your choice in the next one and the one after that huh it's a really good game obviously you can tell my favorite character I I'm wondering between Faye the crazy girl who hears the voices of the prophets no not the prophets the scribes you see the scribes are the ones who came up with the liberation rights you learn this very early on Faye is a crazed 19 16 year old with gray hair she looks amazing she's got these red eyes and she is probably kind of possibly schizophrenic but 100% awesome and very friendly and outgoing and other than hearing the voices of the scribes which she might be she is fantastic the second character I completely adored was captain who is this powerful demonic woman with big horns and an imposing figure presence which just completely blows you away even through the text and through her or through her voice work she sounds absolutely badass and she is the most physically powerful character in the group without a doubt other characters with fantastic headwind I already mentioned there was this sea knight who was all about glory and honor and he was adorable I enjoyed Tiso the wise an imp a demonic little imp who is nothing short of the most adorable thing you've ever seen he's fluff with tails with a tail and two horns one of which is I think kind of broken and put back together with something that looks a lot like tape which is weird but he is completely adorable we've got the Bogdweller betrude who is intimidating and scary but also interesting we've got mr. Sandalwood whose name whose first name eludes me right now I don't have it in my notes I have actually have just a tiny bit of notes which I prepared whenever I lost my train of thoughts which happens a lot but not too much never too much what else who else rather we've got we've got this puppy this adorable puppy who is rogue he's a fun rogue he is in love with the lady pups and he is nothing short of well he is the sexual revolution in puppies there are more characters I think yeah definitely a few more there's a harpy there's a harpy the harpy is really interesting and her art is kind of sinister in purely in its aura it's very very interesting her personal story it's about two sisters two harpy sisters she's on our team and her sister is on the other team and her sister actually won one of the two liberation rights I lost and she went free and part of that was because the sister she asked me to let her go you know I couldn't I couldn't deny her in a way but also I I had just returned from playing the game from not playing the game for six seven months and I had totally forgotten how to play the game how to do the actual basketball part of the game so I sucked completely on that and I lost no excuses absolutely no excuses on that front that's that's about all I have to say right now amazing characters a world which is both deep and very very interesting and oh of course we've got low in Cunningham returning to his role of narrator and this time I literally thought he was another guy when I first listened to his performance here because he sounds a lot more like me and a lot less like that gruff really low really really epic voice which narrated both bastion and transistor he sounds completely different he sounds more like greetings reader what have we here today they still honor the traditions of the scribes and surely have been longing for this chance but first you have a choice to make and here's this deeply sarcastic sarcastic caustic announcer who basically narrates what happens during their in combat during the basketball matches during the pyre matches let's call them that that's much better writing and what else am I to say about this this game was truly truly a celebration of everything that made the previous games great in terms of art direction and writing just general quality of writing as well as a fantastic new venture into genres you would not have expected supergiant games to touch upon and when I was thinking of hmm what will be the third game that comes out of supergiant I never thought it's gonna be a sports simulator with you guessed it visual novel with a bunch of characters thank you for watching this it was an extremely amusing video to make and I can't wait to do a lot more of its like I've decided to break away from the format I've been using for the last few year for the last few months to try and do something different something with cameras something with my face on it for at least a portion of the time and I think it's it works I hope it works you're gonna tell me if you enjoyed this video please like it share it subscribe and leave a comment let me know what you enjoyed let me know what I could do better let me know if you enjoyed that handsome mug of mine and I cannot wait to see you next time bye


If this is a false bottom, which I think it very well could be, and we go, maybe not significantly lower, maybe down to the 40-ish range or something, a $40 range or something like that, then you've got to be very careful because if you lay on too thick and you make those bets too much because we are at 52 or whatever and you're higher in the oil, then you can get really hurt over a low volatility period in the summertime. If there's not a lot of volume, if people are kind of hands-offish and seeing what's going on, then you're going to be stuck with that for quite some time. One thing on oil, because we talked about this I think two months ago, my view is that Trump is going to be very good for producing oil in the U.S., but that does not translate to higher prices. You're seeing the rig count go up, you have a lot of companies that are able to turn this bigot on, so I think we're going to see a big push towards domestic production, but I think that's actually going to be harmful and keep a top on the price of oil. The other part that has really been part of the story for a while has been the Saudis had every incentive to talk this up ahead of the Aramco IPO. If that looks more and more like it might just be bought by China, that their story and their mission is failing a little bit, I think that's going to add pressure where people realize, you know what, the Saudis can't support this going forward. We're having U.S. production going up. So we've been kind of a 40 to 55 range. I think we're going to get back to that 40.


All right, a very, very good evening everybody who is watching us live on Facebook from Elpro International School and Wapping High at Central London. It is indeed a pleasure to be hosting the first virtual project between the two schools. It's been an honor to partner with Wapping High, which is at Central London. And my heartfelt gratitude goes out to Mr. Gary Nelson, the Head Teacher at Wapping High, and to Ms. Nicolet Sorva, the Assistant Head Teacher at Wapping High, who have been instrumental in ensuring that we see this day where we have our students presenting their first virtual project to you through our simulation of a press conference. I am very honored to have Ms. Nicolet Sorva with us. Nicolet, why don't you say a few things? Well, that was a very, very warm welcome from you. And I just want to say on behalf of the whole school that we've thoroughly enjoyed this project. We're very grateful to you for having invited us to be part of a project and for hosting it today. I think my students have really relished the opportunity to get to know your amazing students and to work collaboratively across continents and via Zoom. And at a time when we're facing a sort of an international crisis and students are in lockdown, it's been an incredible experience to be able to make these links between our students and your students and to work on this great project, which we hope will be the first of many to come. So a special thanks to you, Saganda, for making it all happen and we're looking forward to future projects in the future. Thank you so much, Nicolet. And like you mentioned, yes, I think we've been very excited. The students have put in a lot of hard work and we're very proud of them to kind of do this project so beautifully. I'm sure the audiences will now see what they have to present to us. We also have here Ms. Richa Bhatia, who is the activity in charge of the school again, who has been guiding the students throughout for this project. Richa, why don't you say hello to our audiences? Hi, everyone. Good evening. It has been a wonderful experience working with such wonderful students and the team has put in tremendous efforts for the same. I wish them all the best. Thank you. Thank you, Richa. Before we start and I hand the baton to the students, I'd just like to make a small disclaimer here. Okay. One second. Yeah, so we just wanted to say that the students are simulating the characters that they are playing. However, the thoughts, ideas, and speech presented in this virtual project are of the students research into this topic. They're only simulating the people from different organisations and agencies here. So I think we are good to start. Good afternoon. I am Lucia Prince, Senior Political Editor for the BBC in the UK. And I'm Makang Shamalla, Editor-in-Chief from CNN 18 India. We would like to welcome you to this international broadcast brought to you from the BBC in London in partnership with CNN 18 from India. Today we have brought together some of the most renowned international experts from around the world to explore a number of pressing questions that have arisen from this worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, I would like to introduce Mr. Anthony Fossey, an American physician who has served as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Welcome, sir. Next, we have Mr. Carson Brzezki, who is the Chief Economist, Eurozone, and Global Head of Macro for ING Research. We are honoured to have you here today. We also have among us Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations, who will be giving us an insight into the global steps taken to curb the situation. Welcome, sir. And finally, we also have the pleasure of having Mrs. Joyce Missouza with us. Ms. Poussouza is a Tanzanian microbiologist and environmental scientist and serves as the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme at the level of Assistant Secretary-General. Welcome, ma'am. We would like to begin by exploring how our current experience of COVID-19 compares to previous global pandemics. We will then be looking at the choices made by political leaders from different nations to curb its spread. We will also explore the economic impact of the pandemic. Furthermore, we will be asking if there have been any gains during this extended period of lockdown, for example, in environmental terms, and we will also be considering what lessons can be learnt from these events. During the transmission, should we have any questions to put to our experts, please put it in the comment section below. To begin, I would like to introduce our BBC Scarlett Bruin and Domenico Sadaway. Thank you, Lucia. Mr. Poussou, before we understand the global effects of COVID-19, can you talk to us about scientifically how we have dealt with something like this in the past? Is there one common factor that links us to our current one? Hi. Thank you for inviting me. It's absolutely amazing to see such initiators, which will help spread information when our leaders and the common public bank. Coming to your question, there is only one thing I have noticed that has been a recurring theme throughout many of these epidemics. All of these diseases have one thing in common, and that is they all began when an animal virus merged with a human virus to create something so deadly. Talking about a past pandemic, I think it's always been like this. Chaos and panic have led the way rather than medicine and proper policies. Can you tell us about the NAPA virus and the H1N1 flu, which managed to wipe out 24% of the population? Is COVID-19 capable of working on similar lines? Can we stop it from following this pursuit? And what would you suggest to our world leaders? That's indeed a very good question, and I'm very happy to see that we've started off with the basics. Studying and gaining knowledge about past pandemics has always helped us with the present and the future. Talking about the NAPA virus, it is a virus that particularly impacted Asian countries and was started off by a pick-to-human transference. Many measures had to be taken and several towns were quarantined if there was a suspected case anywhere residing in the village, much like today's times. Although this virus is not so rampant in 2020, there is no vaccine for either the humans or animals expected. This is very similar to SARS, which was also belonging to the family of coronaviruses and does not have a vaccine to this day. If we talk about H1N1, the virus which was first detected in the United States and eventually spread across the world. Ten years later, I think we're still working on better understanding this virus and preparing for the next pandemic. However, this virus continues to circulate as a seasonal flu virus and where it causes illness, hospitalization and deaths worldwide every year. So, if you see in a way there are cases where the virus still prevails in our world and we haven't really found a vaccine for it. As of today, a lot of us around the world are working on solving this pandemic and getting ahead. But as I repeatedly said in many interviews, I believe that moving on is not the situation here. We need to fix the problem at hand and adapt to the new normal. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fossey. Today, we also have with us Mr. Karsten Brzezewski, who is the chief economist, Eurozone of macro for ING research. He'll be giving us a critical analysis of the situation in terms of the economic slowdown. Welcome, sir. As Mr. Fossey has already told us about the past pandemics and their relevance with COVID-19, but let's come to the present. Can you give us an overview of the impact on the global economy? Yes, definitely. First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me to this platform. It's great to be here today. One thing to understand in these dreaded times is that over 2.2 billion people have been placed under a lockdown in over 40 countries and movement of men and material has been completely paralyzed in many parts of the world, manufacturing logistics, as well as the service sector involving movement are completely shut down almost everywhere, which is the main cause of the dire effect on our economy today. Many of the industries which are severely affected would be the tourism sector, the sports and entertainment sector, the food industry or the building and construction industry. But I feel that the main problem here is that governments are mainly focusing on large industries and large companies. Very few nations have addressed this issue at a micro level. That is true. Can you explain further as to what kind of problems need to be addressed at a micro level? Right, so basically when I say micro level, I mean that every week millions of people across the globe are losing their jobs. Many small businesses and practices are struggling to survive. Daily wage workers have no means of supporting themselves in these times and are completely dependent on local NGOs support groups. But most importantly, they are dependent on their own government. Clearly, these are very hard times for big businesses, small businesses and of course for workers. What about economic projections for the future? Basically in March of this year, the OECD estimated that global growth will be half to nearly 1.5% but that was definitely optimistic because the most recent estimates in June suggest an unprecedented collapse in the first half of 2020 and almost 13% decline in the global GDP. I have a very interesting graph here to show our audience. So if you have a look at the projections for 2019, 2020 and 2021, you will notice that most nations have seen a decreased annual percentage change in GDP and a lot of them have entered negative territory as well for 2020 and even though we will be bouncing back in 2021, it is obvious that all the support packages that nations have been giving out right now will have long lasting and complex effects. So it is important that they handle the situation right now very efficiently otherwise it can have dire effects in the long term. Thank you, Mr. Brzezky. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, we have heard here about the terrible economic impact some people and their jobs. So can you throw us some line on the steps countries can take or have taken to provide relief to their citizens in such difficult times? That's a great question. So during previous economic crises, a number of countries actually turn quickly to stimulus packages. In many cases, this included building more coal power plants, upgrading roads, investing in heavy industries such as automobile manufacturing and more. And actually following that old playbook to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic would be a terrible mistake as it would just amplify the air pollution health crisis, another huge and upcoming crisis. And why weather conditions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have already been described as a silver lining to the coronavirus lockdown. And at the same time, many people have already expressed concern that this improving condition will not continue after lockdown ends and the situation will continue to worsen. As countries look to give their economies a much needed jolt in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, governments and companies essentially have two choices. They can either lock in decades of polluting inefficient high carbon and unsustainable development or they can use this as an opportunity to accelerate the inevitable shift to low carbon and increasingly affordable energy and transport systems that will bring long term economic benefits. And the latter will also fight two major health crises, that is air pollution and the growing climate emergency. Mrs. Mysusa, what are your views on the situation highlighted by Mr. Ban Ki-moon? Well, to be honest, I was expecting this question. Another lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has certainly led to weather changes that just cannot be ignored and left unnoticed. We're experiencing clearer skies, improving air quality, decreasing carbon emissions. And the reason as to why this is happening is rather simple. Transport use, electricity demand and industrial activity have reduced, streets are empty, cities are silent, factories are closed, vehicle traffic is also reduced. And all of this is giving the planet a much needed respite. Now it might be right to say that the coronavirus lockdown has been good to the environment. I agree that these conditions will not last long if pre-pandemic activities continue with the same vigor even after the pandemic. Okay, could you also suggest ways we can protect the environment even after lockdown ends? Definitely. Considering the growth in the tertiary sector, telecommuting from home, for those who can, even just for a couple of days a week, can have a marked reduction in terms of emissions. Governments must not backtrack on the massive air quality gains post the COVID-19 crisis. They need to move towards renewable energy faster instead of using coal and non-renewable energy. And carbon projects is also an affordable measure to keep climatic conditions from deteriorating. Mr. Fauci, we understand the virus has created an impact everywhere, but you previously talked about how studying history is a much better approach to solving these issues. When we do look at the past pandemic, they had an impact which is much more severe in comparison to COVID-19. If this is the case, then how did governments react when trying to aid people in staying safe? Yes, I definitely agree. So if you're seeing the governments didn't really know what to do, which is the case in many countries today as well. So what happened then was that people were ordered to wear masks, schools and theatres were closed, and bodies were piled up in makeshift masks. Now, during those times, if we see the medical industry had not advanced as much as today, so temporary solutions were viable. However, today when we have the technology and money, it is our duty to use it. We're a global village, therefore it should have been easier for us to combat these certain discrepancies and move forward. If we do want solutions to the problem at hand then honestly setting up research labs, promoting hands-on learning and encouraging global communication should be our go-to answer. I suggest our political leaders do not go about imitating policies which are incompetent and honestly raise a question towards your leadership. Okay, so thank you. Mr. Brzezinski, as Mr. Fauci mentioned, today our economy is based on globalization and most companies have manufacturing units dispersed all over different countries. So how has the global lockdown impacted international trade and manufacturing? That's a very good question actually. So basically, trade and output are having unavoidable declines and they will have painful consequences for households and businesses on top of the human suffering that is already caused by the disease itself. I think a major impact on companies was due to the initial lockdown in China. For a few years now, China has been the central manufacturing hub of many global business operations. So any disruption in China's output is sure to have repercussions elsewhere through regional and global value chains. But I feel that at a time like this, keeping trade flowing requires cooperation and trust. For example, that the market will supply central that countries will not impose export restrictions and imports will not pose health risks. It would be very easy for our audience to understand the trend of trade with this representation over here. So if you can see, even after the financial depression of 2008 and 2009, we were never really able to go back to how we were before the depression, which is dotted by the gray line. And coming to the years 2020, 2020, 2021 and 2022, you see that there are two scenarios. The red line shows the pessimistic scenario and the green one shows the optimistic scenario. Both of which suggest that there will be a rebound in trade and manufacturing, but it would be very difficult for us to match to what we were before, which is the yellow line over here. So I feel that right now it would be unrealistic to keep hoping that we would go back to something that we were before, but we can definitely work towards efficiently managing everything right now, so that this does not leave long lasting effect. Mrs. Mysisa, Mr. Brzezky just spoke about the decrease in manufacturing and it is a fact that all kinds of manufacturing results in a significant carbon footprint. So once manufacturing and trade starts rising again, we need alternatives to ensure that carbon emissions do not start soaring again. In your previous answer, you talked about carbon projects as a solution for improving climatic conditions. Could you elaborate more on the carbon projects? Definitely. I would love to give an example of the carbon project in the Tula Hills of Southeast Kenya. Now over here, income from the sale of carbon credits as a result of the region's critical forests, woodlands and grasslands being protected and are providing a cushion to local communities when the areas other main employer, in this case ecotourism, is on hold. The project aims at providing the community with infrastructure including water tanks, cattle crushes and around 400 beehives. We can also take an example of the Altimao Forest in Peru, where a similar carbon project has reduced illegal deforestation by about 75%. Another notable point is that in this area, when COVID-19 exposed to put on hold, income from carbon credits was able to ensure that people could remain employed and fed, making this an incredible initiative to help sustain the ecosystem and to ensure sustainable employment. However, we would need a combined and coordinated effort of governments and citizens to actually achieve our goal. Currently, some countries have changed several of their environmental policies and these decisions shall heavily influence the air, water and wildlife around us. So while carbon projects is a way to sustain and take care of the environment, its goal cannot be achieved if a combined effort is important. Mr. Prizesti, Mrs. Matuza has just given us quite an insight as to how carbon projects can significantly decrease the growth of carbon footprint. It is known that crews or production contribute to around 5% of the global total carbon emissions and during the past few months, oil demand has fallen a great deal, which definitely has led to a positive impact on the environment. But economically, what kind of repercussions are op-ed nations going to face due to this? So basically, first of all, it is important to understand that the lockdown measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19 represent an unprecedented shock to the global oil demand right now. I would like to talk to our audience about a condition called super contango that has sent oil markets into a frenzy. So basically, a contango market implies that oil traders believe crude prices will rally in the future. Thus, what prices are being offered at super discounts to future prices. But then this year, oil prices fell due to the lockdown and this time gap widened tremendously. So if you have a look at the crude oil prices over the years, you will see that even in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, oil prices did not dip as low as they did now. And on April 20 of this year, we made history when oil prices closed off at minus $37 a barrel, which technically means that producers had to pay people to get stock off their hands. And this is something which would be very, very difficult for nations who completely depend on crude oil for their income, for example, Algeria and Nigeria, who require the prices to be around $100 per barrel to balance their government books and to prevent their economy from completely crushing. If that's the case, then why don't companies announce an temporary cut down on production of oil? The thing is, keeping aside the theoretical aspects of this, operationally, there is only up to a certain extent that a company can reduce production. To cut production further, they may have to seal their oil wells and thus risk losing their asset permanently. And strategically, this would also mean recurring capital and abandonment expenditures for the company when the market does revive, and they will be losing their market share to their competitors in the long run. So if major oil producing nations like the OPEC countries choose to do this, their currency might devalue significantly. Can you give us some specifics on the impact on Saudi Arabia considering that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received a lot of criticism for bidding discount on oil prices in early 2020? Right. So basically, this price war began between Saudi Arabia and Russia when Saudi Arabia failed to convince Russia to reduce production of oil, an agreement that had been reached with all the members of the OPEC group. So early March, Saudi Arabia decided to ram up its oil production and offered discounts to buyers in a bid to win market share because it failed to reach an agreement with Russia. But the thing is, by the time the Saudis, Russians and other major oil producers agreed to cut output, it was already too late. Daily demand had already fallen by more than 20 million barrels a day because of the lockdown. And as a thing is, Saudi Arabia is a nation that is still recovering from its last major drop in oil prices in 2014. Over that, Saudi Arabia suffered even more because they stopped all the pilgrimages, including the annual hedge to Mecca, which hasn't been interrupted in a very, very long time. So the irony of the situation rests in the fact that Saudi Arabia triggered this oil price war to punish Russia, a country which is far less vulnerable to drops in the price of crude oil as compared to Saudi Arabia itself. Thank you, Mr. Brzezky. Like crude oil, plastic waste and plastic pollution continue to remain a contributor to land degradation, and its hazardous effects are very well known. Ms. Masisa, can you tell us if the coronavirus lockdown resulted in a decrease of its usage? If yes, how could we ensure that such a decrease continues in the future? You know, it's truly remarkable to see how so many questions deal with certain futuristic ideals to effectively tackle climate change. So private companies like Apple are using plastic to make and provide face shields and they were planning to ship 1 million face shields to hospitals in the United States every week. So it has an entirely led to the decrease in the usage, but we can see that during the pandemic, steps were and are being taken to use plastic efficiently. As for solutions, countries should invest in sustainable disposable infrastructure, improving waste collection systems, and they can do so by splitting the islands into zones to make the most efficient use of shared resources. Plastic recycling centers should also be set up. Now over here, plastic would be recycled to obtain fuel from it, and this fuel can be distributed in villages for various purposes, as a replacement for kerosene and for generators and in boilers, making it a very efficient solution. Thank you, Ms. Masisa. I think we have discussed and understood the environmental repercussions of the COVID-19 lockdown at length. Let's talk about the humanitarian aspect of it. Billions of people have filed for unemployment in these difficult times. Mr. Brzezki, can you tell us which sectors have seen the highest level of unemployment? Right. So basically the international labour organization has estimated that globally more than 25 million jobs would be threatened due to the spread of coronavirus. If you see the US, UK, Canada, and most of the European and Asian countries have already begun to register huge job losses, leading to a significant rise in the unemployment rate. Now, there are high concerns for low-paid and low-skilled informal workers, especially in low and middle income countries, where the proportion of such workers is very high, and they completely lack any kind of social protection. And the thing is that this sudden loss of livelihood would have a horrifying impact on them. Also, casual workers are more vulnerable right now because of their irregular nature of work and the daily wage payment. Even regular salaried or contractual skilled workers and shopkeepers who may be sitting at home idle right now or have returned to their native places may not be able to recover their jobs once they come back after the lockdown is over. And if you think about small entrepreneurs or self-employed people, many of them will not be left with the capital to restart their business after this lockdown is over. I think Mr. Bankimol will be able to give us some insight as to what kind of steps governments can take to provide relief in such a situation. Thank you, Mr. Brzezki. Mr. Brzezki has raised some great points and has given a great encapsulation on the whole scenario. However, to provide more information to the spectators here, I would just like to show you guys some data. When we see this graph over here, there's this enormous and very concerning spike in this unemployment rate, in this unemployment rate, which was certainly a huge concern to the whole world community. And now to share some more information about this, for combating this as a whole, countries, regions and cities can quickly develop a grassroots view of where jobs are at a risk and where there is additional demand for labour, either by sector, occupation and geography. And that view needs to put special focus on small businesses and the most unsafe workers, including those in the gig economy and the informal sector. We need to build smart cross-sector solutions to get that help to them fast. As governments prepare to reopen economies post lockdown, they need to find smart ways to maximize employment and protect against new infections. Again, as Mr. Brzezki just said, special focus will be needed on restarting and supporting small businesses, which account for a majority of jobs in most countries. At the same time, governments and businesses will need to create new mechanisms to help people whose jobs are at a risk and redeploy them into occupations in which the labour demand still outstrips the supplier and rapidly builds the skills needed for their new roles. So these are particular ways that countries, regions and cities, which they can adapt to make this a much more safer situation for all. As Mr. Ban Ki-moon pointed out, we need to find smart ways to protect ourselves against the new infection and how new viruses, strains may be related to the ones we already know about. So I think Mr. Fucci, a common question that arise often is how similar COVID-19 is to SARS and MERS, considering that there are all strains from the same disease. I definitely agree with what Mr. Brzezki and Mr. Moon have just highlighted and that is why I believe we encourage research rather than speeches and political vendetta. Talking about the corona viruses, as you mentioned, they are actually more similar than we think. They all mutate, as most viruses do, and their symptoms can be quite similar. However, SARS and MERS are much harder to catch because of their low R0. So there has never been a much worldwide scare like the COVID-19 has been. So if you see this comparison chart that I will just share with you, you see that all of these are respiratory viral infections. That is, they will mainly impact your this region. Now, if you see the fatality rate of SARS and MERS is much higher. That is why some people dread being caught by it. However, catching the virus as a whole is much low. Therefore, the scare has been more in terms of COVID-19 rather than the other corona viruses. Oh, no. The one word that everybody has been on their mouth. Since the virus originated, can you tell us what this means and how it impacts the virus? Definitely. The reproduction number or R0 is a mathematical term that tells you how contagious or infectious a disease can be. Specifically, it's the number of people who catch the disease from one sick person in an outbreak, if you see. Now, this very clear picture will show you how R0, so patient zero is basically the first person to contract the virus. He spreads it to two people and they eventually spread it to other people. So if you see eventually, it goes on to spreading to other people. Now, if we compare viruses as a whole, you see the COVID-19. It has an R0 that sits around two to 2.5. That means one person who is infected can spread it to two to 2.5 people on an average when nobody's vaccinated. Apologies. The H1N1 virus, however, sits at 1.2 and 1.6, which is comparatively low to the COVID-19. The Ebola virus and measles, if you've heard of it, measles is one of the viruses that has a very, very high R0. It sits around 18. That means one infected person can spread it across to 18 other people, again, when nobody's vaccinated. So if you see R0 is not, R0 is basically helping us to understand how contagious or how infectious a disease is. And when we compare it across several pandemics, we see COVID-19 is still on the lower side when compared to diseases like measles, Spanish flu, H1N1, but considered deadly when we compare it to viruses like Ebola, SARS, and MERS. Thank you. So we have just heard about a lot of contagious diseases, but there are so many things that we, living in developed nations, do not understand. For example, how are countries that are already suffering from a humanitarian crisis, like Yemen, being impacted, and how can they possibly cope with this added pressure of a pandemic? That is actually an excellent question, but the problem is that it doesn't have a very clear answer because it is very hard to get a clear picture of the condition in such nations where a humanitarian crisis is going on for the simple reason that there are no trusted sources of information, and the media does not show us the correct picture. But coming to Yemen, perhaps no other country is more vulnerable to COVID-19's depredations than Yemen is right now because even before the virus's arrival, the country was grappling with the world's largest humanitarian crisis in the world as a result of their ongoing civil war. So Yemen's official coronavirus caseload is actually among the lowest in the Middle East, but that is most certainly misleading because the WHO has recorded only about 253 confirmed cases in a population of 28 million people, and in neighboring Oman, authorities have confirmed over 8,000 cases with a population of 1,600 sites. So the thing is, Yemen has a miniscule case count only because of the near total absence of testing. And now after staging massive aid operations in Yemen for so many years, the United Nations itself is running out of cash as donations from member countries who are busy battling COVID-19 on their own turf right now. And if you think about it, after years of war and after years of having no proper services, people in general don't trust what the media says and they don't trust the authorities. Yemen is a nation where people are already suffering from widespread starvation, a malaria epidemic and a cholera outbreak. And at this point, donations and NGOs are not a sustainable option. A child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen, and the only way possible in which we can prevent Yemen from getting completely wiped out from the face of the globe is by providing political stability, something that only Saudi Arabia and the United States can accomplish there. Thank you, Mr. Brzezky. The condition of people in Yemen is shocking, and we would like to remind our spectators that Yemen needs our attention, and we urge all of you to take any step possible in raising awareness and making donations. Thank you, Mrs. Maesusa. I would now like to talk to you about the effects lockdown has had on the fauna. For example, the lack of human presence has led to the return of certain wild animals in urban and rural areas. Should these effects be considered a positive or a negative thing? Well, in previous answers, I talked about lockdown and how it means a lot less traffic on the roads and less pollution. And clearly, this gives wildlife space to thrive. However, it means some people are being driven to extremes to support themselves through poaching. Yet another threat for wild animals. During lockdown, people can't go to work, especially those in the informal market, because these people rely on going out every single day to make ends meet and come back with some food. And this is leading to an increase in poaching for bush meat. Animals hunted for bush meat are not the only ones at risk. The rhino, which is poached for its hunt, is also vulnerable. Now, international travel restrictions may have hampered wildlife trafficking across borders, but it is also leaving wild animals in the wild with much less protection. On the other hand, however, bees during lockdown are finally getting a break. One of the biggest environmental impacts of the global shutdown has been the significant reduction in air pollution. The pollutants break down the scent molecules emitted by plants, making it harder for bees to detect food. This means they often end up flying further to find food and bring it back to their desks. In a world with less air pollution, these can make shorter and more profitable trips, and this may have been rare more young. So it would be right to say that lockdown has had both positive and negative effects on animals, and I've given proof of both of them. And what steps should be taken for the welfare of vulnerable wild animals? Yet again, carbon projects will fit in as a solution, along with solutions like backyard poverty reduction. Because this shall dramatically reduce pressure on terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, and is one way of ensuring food security, and trying to reduce the scarring amounts of bush meat hunting. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Mr. Ryuse spoke about food security, and this is a major issue in nations with a higher population. So isn't it harder for a nation with larger population to deal with a pandemic like this? How will a country like India provide effective relief to their citizens? So that's a great question and a very valid observation. So considering the fact that managing pandemics in large countries like India is extremely tough, and action plans should be formulated, such that the policy decisions are taken on both a central and a grassroot level. So what the central government of India should probably be doing now is firstly expanding training and deploying healthcare and public health workforce, secondly, implementing a system to find every suspected case at a community level, thirdly, ramping up production capacity and availability of testing, and lastly, identifying, adapting and equipping facilities to manage risk, treat and isolate patients. So these measures are the best way to suppress and stop transmission so that when restrictions are lifted, the virus won't resurge. And the last thing any country needs is to open school and schools and businesses only to be forced to close them against because of resurgence. In times like this, coordination between central and state governments will be crucial. So what do you think the state government should be doing to curb this situation? Absolutely correct. Coordination is very valid at this time. So what the state government should be doing right now is arrangements for testing, making arrangements for isolation and treatment of mild and moderate cases. Thirdly, they need to make arrangements for treatment of severe patients and for providing critical care. And lastly, addressing human resource requirements and ensuring supply chain management. Thank you, Mr. Moon. Some people have argued that the coronavirus pandemic is a blessing in disguise. Mrs. Mysisa, what are your views on this statement? Well, that is a great question and I'm very glad someone brought that up. Now, I would definitely agree with the fact that this pandemic has given us time to reflect on our actions. We know that pollution is reducing and nature is in a way reclaiming itself. And I've also given reason to support that fact in previous answers. And there's a rather interesting graph that I would like to show for everyone. So this graph shows that more people think that climate change is as important as coronavirus, that the percentage of people agree that in the long term, climate change is as serious a crisis as COVID-19. Now, once people have seen and realized that the condition around them is improving, it might appeal to their conscience and make them work for the betterment of the environment. So this has allowed us to think and to deliberate and to understand that this positive impact on the environment may be temporary and that governments and individuals should learn from this lockdown on how to reduce pollution in the long term. Thank you, Mrs. Mysisa. Finally, I would like to ask Mr. Bozeski, how long is it going to take to rebuild the global economic forward due to this pandemic? I think that is a question that a lot of countries are looking to answer. But the thing is, this isn't a question that has a definite answer. But I want you to consider our history. So let's take the greatest session that was brought on by fundamental overreach in 2008. Now, there were underlying problems in the economy. There was too much debt. There was overbuilding of housing. We were just overextended and that was hard to cure. It took us a long time to work up those things. But what just happened now, there was nothing like a housing bubble or the extraordinarily high levels of household debt we had in 2008. That was just an act of nature that forced us to shut down a large part of our economy. So you don't have that kind of underlying drag from the past excesses that we had last time. And I think that once the threat of the virus lives, it will not take us long to get back on our feet. What do you exactly mean by when the virus lives? See, basically everything hinges on epidemiology. In the 1918 influenza outbreak, there was a first wave that proceeded and then a monstrous second wave. And that unfortunately does look like a real possibility for us. If this virus hangs in there, then all my arguments about how the economic scarring from this is not so severe that we can't recover fast enough will become completely irrelevant because we cannot recover fast if the virus is still hanging around. So do you think that once we make a full recovery from the virus, we will economically be able to go back to how we were before the pandemic? So full recovery is a tough standard. Absent a vaccine or herd immunity, there will probably still be some drag. We may have an interesting situation where the economy is growing quite rapidly starting later this year or early next year. But we are so far down that rapid growth still doesn't get us back to where we started. And at the end, it comes down to individual nations and how efficiently they manage this situation. For some particular nations right now, their presidents are prioritizing their economy over the health of their citizens. And this will only lead to distress for the authorities among the citizens and condemnation from the global community. Mr. Futschi, Mrs. Brzezki spoke about the importance of epidemiology in economic recovery. So as an expert, do you think that there will be a second wave of this virus? And do you think that we will handle it any better than last time? Second wave, that's what a lot of people have been talking about. But my only question would be why create chaos when we haven't even started dealing with the first wave. In my opinion, definitely, there will be a second wave of the COVID-19. But waiting for it to happen isn't the real deal here. The first wave is getting worse in its sense and we need much more effective policy implementation. If we do want to talk about a second wave, then obviously I would hope things aren't handled in the same way. I think that prevention techniques are essential in its sense. But if you see, we should also look at long-term solutions. If you do look at past global pandemics, they have used the same methods of preventing the spread of these diseases. Washing hands is effective against any communicable disease. But it should definitely not be the only call for action. For this, I have repeatedly suggested interactions between our political leaders and hopefully one day they will listen to me. But till then, all I ask is a general public take care of themselves. This is the new normal and it won't go away easily. Interactive session. I'm glad you brought this up. Sitting here, I have seen that a lot of us have repeatedly mentioned that there's no going back to what we were. Honestly, there might not be a pass to return to. This pandemic has helped us realize that maybe it's time for reformations. Reformations in our political institutions, reformations in our medical institutions, and reformations in our social institutions. We have to work hard and we have to start the chain somewhere. This is not the end, but the beginning to a new world. This might sound a little philosophical, but that is how our world works. Someone has to do the preaching. Honestly, I would have left it to our beloved president, but clearly he has important matters to attend to. And thus we experts have to step in into these August gatherings and address the general public and ask you to just be safe. I would like to thank all our experts today who have covered a wide range of topics and given us a lot of food for thought. We now like to open the debate with some questions from our viewers who have been commenting the questions throughout today's program. And the first question that we have here is, what is the impact on the insurance industries or the environment, entertainment industries? Mr. Prasatsky, would you like to put you on that? Yeah, sure. We didn't go into the details of the effect on separate industries, but I can address insurance and entertainment industries because if you think about it, obviously in the insurance industry, there has been a surge in the number of people who asked for health insurance or medical insurance. And at the same time, there has been a dip in travel insurance because of all the travel restrictions. So it kind of depends on the type of insurance that a company is offering. And then you can decide what kind of effect has been on them. When you come to the entertainment industry, now the entertainment industry is a big one. If you talk about malls, shopping centers, and theaters, they have obviously been closed down for quite some time now. And they have had a negative impact. And even if you talk about theme parks like Universal Studios or Disney, which have been closed for over two to three months now, have had severe impacts. Actually, coincidentally, I think Disney in Florida is opening today and Disney in France is opening tomorrow. And especially Disney World in Florida has seen a lot of criticism to this decision, simply because Florida is one of the states with the highest number of cases and the highest number of deaths. But I think the United States has already shown us where their priorities lie at this point, so I will not be commenting on that. Coming back to other kinds of media, I think digital media like video games or streaming platforms have definitely had more users in the past few months because as we know, everybody has been stuck at home. So they've definitely seen an increase in their users which has had a positive impact on them. So yeah, I think that's about covers it all. And if we go deep into them, there are a lot of separate, what do you call, subsets in all these industries, which will have different kinds of effects in the end. Another question we have been asked is, we haven't seen our political leaders be too vocal about the current scenario. Are they afraid of what is going to happen or are they're afraid of taking care of it and don't want to create panic? This is directed to Anthony Vossi. That's indeed a very good question and I'm really glad that it just popped up after Mr. Brzezinski highlighted where our political leaders main platform stands. So yes, to a certain extent, firstly I thought that the absence of political leaders here was because they were afraid of dealing with this all of a sudden because we could see that this year could have been the set for World Wars and Cold War and several political vendetta that has been going on. But now that I see there are several nations and I am privileged to live in a world where I get to see such leaders step in, especially when we have female leaders stepping up specifically in New Zealand and Germany where they have worked very hard and they are helping their citizens. I wouldn't wish the same from our president as well but we've seen he does what he wants. He has his own priorities. But yes, we will work on it and I'm pretty sure that there will be a great outcome of all this and we'll come back stronger. Thank you for your input, Mr. Fossey. And the next question is directed to Mr. Ban Ki-moon. How important is international cooperation between nations in tackling this pandemic? Sir, please go ahead. Thank you. So this is absolutely true as the former Secretary General of the United Nations and organization aiming at international cooperation. And as Dr. Fauci just said, this is a global village and international cooperation will aid the situation in so many aspects. Whether it is effective vaccine development and deployment, whether it is continued surveillance to detect the re-emergence of the virus or whether it is the continuous and strong support for less developed countries such as Yemen, international cooperation will go a long way in solving this crisis. Thank you, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. We have another question. Telecommuting is a solution that everyone cannot afford. In that case, what alternatives could we have? Any of you would like to pitch in on that? Since I think I talked about telecommuting, I would like to answer this question. So I did highlight the fact that telecommuting can happen when and where it is possible, considering the tremendous growth in the tertiary sector. But otherwise, the main agenda remains the same, that is to reduce carbon emissions and to reduce vehicle traffic. Now, while telecommuting may not always work because not everyone can afford to do that. What we can suggest, keeping in mind that agenda powers is to walk shorter distances than using a bike or a scooter or a car. So again, what I would like to say is that we have to put in a combined effort to this. I think coincidentally, Mr. Brizarski talked about Disneyland and there's a very good quote that I found by Mr. Walt Disney that says that whatever we accomplish in the end will belong to the entire group as a tribute to a combined effort. So keeping in mind the fact that all of us together can make a change and irrespective of the fact that telecommuting cannot be afforded a hundred other things that we can do. All right. Thank you, Ms. Misusa. And that is all we have time for for today. We'd like to thank all our guests today who have been interviewed by our team of reporters. We'd also like to thank you for joining us today. This program has been brought to you from BBC UK. And from CNN 18 India with the support of students from Wapping High School London and Alper International School Pune. Goodbye and take care. All right. Thank you everybody for joining us and thank you students. I think there's a huge round of applause for everybody, your thoughts, your researches, your statements and the entire presentation that you put in together was indeed commendable. I congratulate all of you. And I encourage you to continue to be on this path where you all read, read and learn more. So thank you. I think it was a great presentation. Nicolette, why don't you say something? I just want to congratulate the students. They've done a huge amount of research and I think you can tell they have become real experts. And actually this is only the tip of the iceberg. The other research they've done on many other case studies and nations is quite incredible and it's been terrific to see today. And just a really exciting collaboration between the two schools and we very much hope that we'll be able to do something like this again in the future. Well done. All right on then with that note we leave for today and thank you to all the viewers who have joined us on Facebook and punched in all your questions which our panelists have answered. Thank you very much for joining. Bye-bye.