Amnesia, selfish gene and waste pickers
Neologism #22, 01.12.2024
Waste Pickers in Colombia: Organization, Rights and Digitization
"In Colombia, waste pickers have transformed their social and professional status, evolving from being seen as 'disposable people' to being recognized as providers of public recycling services."
"This transformation was achieved through two key strategies: organizing into cooperatives and associations and advocating for their rights."
"The case of Colombian waste pickers offers critical insights into the sector globally, especially regarding the role of digitization in empowering informal workers when guided by their collective interests and adopted by the workers themselves."
Read Waste Pickers in Colombia: Organization, Rights and Digitization
MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia
"Today marks two years since I first set up an e-ink display in my mom’s apartment to help her live on her own with amnesia. The display has worked extremely well during those two years, so I’m sharing the basic set-up in case others find it useful for similar situations."
"My mom still lives on her own in an apartment. Because she cannot remember things, she goes through each day in a state of low-grade anxiety about where her grown children are and whether they are all right."
"Looking back, the display is essentially the only intervention of any kind we’ve tried that’s actually been successful at improving her quality of life (and ours)."
What a beautiful use of technology to uphold someone's personhood, and let them know they are loved, despite (and with regard to) a profound injury.
Read MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia
The ultra-selfish gene
"We now have the power to genetically modify entire species by inserting certain genes into them with brute force. Doing this to malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly killer."
"Ten years ago, humanity discovered a way to completely rid the world of malaria. To date this technology has gone unused, sentencing millions of children to an early and preventable death."
"By making a single recursively spreading gene edit, it would become possible to edit the genes of an entire population."
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