Issue 3
Digital hypocrisy, surveillance and other short stories Have we become desensitized to the constant tracking of our online lives?
March 2020
A Decade in Review of the Oscars
A Stormy Forecast for 2020
From hosted to hostless and of course the fiasco of the best picture of 2018, La La Land. A hectic decade for the Academy Awards.
The first few months have not been promising.
Cover Art: ‘Communication’ by Silvia Ortega van Oostrom, 2020 See it yourself at the DP2 Exhibition
The world might have gone into lockdown, but The Blue Compass has kept its printer running, and what better way to take your mind of these tough times than with some interesting articles? This issue serves as not only a recap of some of the key events of the last decade but also includes our take of what the future has in store. Last decade saw many big changes for us and the next one will likely contain even more. Unfortunately, the first is already upon us, as we will have to say goodbye to you as Editors In Chief of the Blue Compass. As the year comes to a close, we must move forward. Stay safe everyone! Co-Editors In Chief,
Joris and Emily
Fadtually? Ishika Joshi
T
he world’s population reached 7 billion, the world didn’t end in 2012, human stem cells have been successfully cloned, China ended their one-child-policy and Britain voted to leave the EU. The 2010s can be denoted as one of the most historical decades, since it has been the pinnacle of human development. The evolution of the internet and social media stands out. Fads have been around for centuries; however, the spread of these trends has never been so infectious. We might almost compare them to the coronavirus: these trends can be deadly.
Source: https://www.usrepresented.com/2018/01/26/pleaseaccept-the-tide-pod-challenge/
The Tide Pod Challenge invaded the internet and resulted in 7,000 cases of injured people and 8 deaths by 2017. In some ways, the squishy, colourful blob looks like sweets and, understandably, an infant could wander into the laundry room and find a box of “gummy bears”. One would think that humans have evolved since infancy, however, that challenge is evidence that this might not be the case. Humans have even innovated a way to consume Tide Pods by cooking them in frying pans, taking Gorden Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares to a whole new level. Teens and children can inhale the liquid
into their lungs or ingest it, which alters blood pressure and heart rate and therefore might cause a loss in consciousness and seizures. The coverage by the media is only a part of the problem, the main issue is the overloaded adolescent brain, which is learning a staggering amount of information within a short time period. Our brains begin to construct connections that adults have, however, the last part of the brain to be connected is the frontal lobe, controlling judgement and risk-taking behaviours - ideal for the IB Learner Profile. To illustrate, teens are driving on a road without a steering wheel that isn’t properly connected. We are quick learners without a developed judgement, we therefore take risks, because we think we are invincible. It is easier to cope with scary experiences, like leaving home, getting a job and falling in love, when you completely understand how things can go wrong. We take risks, even dumb ones like eating a Tide Pod, because we think nothing can go wrong and because our friends are egging us on. What our peers think is a major part of teen reality. The end of the decade will not mean the end of trends like these. Teens are going to try them out because that’s how the evolution of human intelligence, and lack of, progresses. Social Media courses through the veins of adolescents these days, and while the connectedness is an advantage, the spread of the wrong ideas can put teens at risk. They just need assistance navigating through the socially connected world that never shuts off before a brick becomes the new bread roll.
Music’s impact on the youth of today Sanne van den Biggelaar
M
usic has been around for longer than humanity can remember, it comes from a time before history was recorded. Centuries upon centuries ago, the human race discovered that some sounds were pleasing to hear and kept creating it, as a form of entertainment. Instruments were invented, and music adapted. Music is an ever-changing thing, leading to the many genres and types of music we have today, in which there’s a sound for everyone to enjoy. If you think about it, everyone you know may have a different taste in music, but in one way or another, everyone listens to music, and everyone has at least one type of music they may actually enjoy. However, entertainment is not the only purpose of music. Have you ever listened to a song and felt genuinely happy? If so, this is due to something in your brain known as the ‘musical memory template’. Simply put, this is sort of like a list of songs you have listened to before, which you remember as being good, and which you enjoyed. When
your brain registers a song that sounds like something on the list, it will release dopamine, a chemical which is closely linked to our perception of joy. This musical memory template is a large reason for popular songs’ successes. Due to people having enjoyed similar sounds before, pop songs rise on the charts. This explains why many songs have a somewhat ‘basic’ sound, as they have been proven to please the general public. Not everyone will react to a song in the same way. Personal preferences, which affect the release of dopamine in the brain, change our perception of a song. Listening to your own musical preferences, or songs which sound similar to those you enjoyed in the past, can make you experience a high of happiness. So, while the song provides entertainment, it also stimulates your brain and produces a genuine sense of joy, brightening your mental state. The song evokes such a strong emotion that it causes chemical changes in your brain. The same can be said for sadder songs, songs which bring the listener to tears. This is something
which you have to enjoy listening to for the emotion to show, as there has to be interest in what is being heard for a reaction like this to occur. Even though the response isn’t generally perceived as a happy one, the result of listening to the song is still one which causes you to want to hear it again. Lyrics as well as music play a part in the reactions’ songs evoke. The lyrics may not be the first thing you notice when listening to a new song, but they play a part in the response your mind has to a song, creating a deeper link in your brain if these provide extra meaning. When songs in a foreign language are heard, it can be harder to forge these connections, but the message spread through music overcomes the language barrier. This is especially evident in today’s society, with worldwide music spreading and topping the charts globally. Due to this, large portions of today’s youth learn another language, or gain an understanding of cultures across the world. An example of this would be K-pop. Korean music has spread across the globe, with artists who speak little to no English in
their songs communicating through their music. Take BTS for instance, a recordbreaking group who have influenced people in every country. Their songs contain messages about self-love, following your dreams and being yourself, as well as tackling the topics of depression and anxiety, and how hard fame can be on a person. The songs are sung in Korean with a minimal amount of English, but through translation videos and explanations, the message finds a way to fans of any language. This can be linked back to the musical memory template, the language being heard not mattering as the brain can find joy in the rhythm and melody. Music is more than just something to listen to, especially in a world as connected as ours. It brings listeners together, improves mental health and teaches us about the world we live in and the people we are. It expresses individuality whilst bringing communities together. For many of us, music is a big part of life, and it’s existence is something I, for one, could not go without.
Robots and Us Emma Lipper
A
s artificial intelligence developed at a rapid rate over the last 50 to 60 years, the way we see it has changed maybe
just as drastically. Pop culture has been obsessed with AI right from its beginnings and the perspectives shown in the media were as much shaped by reality, as they shaped reality
Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the Terminator (1984) and The Matrix (1999) are solely based on the premise of a takeover by AI and in the series Doctor Who (1963) this is a recurring theme. The infamous ‘robots take over humanity’ plot has been around as long as AI in popular media. Even before the actual system on which we based AI was invented, books already portrayed some versions of this plot, for example in Frankenstein, Doctor Frankenstein wonders whether, if he gives his creation the ability to procreate, his kind would destroy humanity. Frankenstein was published in 1818.
This image of AI was not limited to popular culture, but extended to political, legal and philosophical debate. Most people were hesitant about artificial intelligence that was getting stronger and ‘smarter’. However, technological advancements persisted and this attitude became less and less compatible with everyday life. Computers, smartphones and many other forms of developing artificial intelligence were becoming the norm. To prevent a cognitive dissonance (AI is bad and will destroy me, but I am also using it daily), a new, more sustainable view of AI was needed. One that took into account the positive relationship that can exist between man and machine, which people were experiencing every day.
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‘evil’ in his monster by rejecting him. This seems to show that the monster’s personality is based on that of his maker. By giving artificial intelligence human features, filmmakers may be expressing this perspective of the inextricable nature of maker and creation.
This development into a more friendly portrayal of AI was strikingly parallel to the form in which AI appeared. Where in older movies the technology is imagined as an ever-present allseeing system, in newer movies they have grown a body and faces that show (by humans interpretable) emotions. It could even be argued that as our view of AI merged into something new, we gave them more human features. Maybe this speaks to the difficulty a human tends to have with those that do not resemble him.
Wall-E, as one of the first films to show AI with a sympathetic face and hopes and dreams, could thus be argued to be a revolutionary film that represents the transformation of our relationship with AI.
Wall-E seems to want to tell us a similar story: that the morality of a robot is based on the morality of those who made him. As humans exhibit both good and bad behaviour the future of robots is thus to also exhibit either good or bad behaviour, or more likely: both. The empathy that Wall-E invokes, as well as the social commentary in the film paints a hopeful but nuanced picture for the future of humanity and its artificial intelligence.
A Decade Review of the Oscars Sabina Zildji
Source: https://www.goldderby.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Oscar-statuette-621.jpg?w=620&h=360&crop=1
T
he Academy Awards is a prestigious award show where the industry’s best directors, actors, actresses, and screenwriters are given the iconic Oscar statuette for their cinematic achievements. Between all the awkward hosts, glamorous dresses, mushy acceptance speeches, and clumsy actresses tripping down the red carpet, the Academy Awards has something for everyone to enjoy. Whether you’re a giant movie buff, fashion analyst, or celebrity-troll, there is nothing quite like shouting at your television when Leonardo DiCaprio is robbed of yet another Oscar.This article is going to act as a recap of all the Academy Awards of the past decade, starting from the 83rd Academy Awards (or the 2011 Oscars) that aired in 2011, which celebrated the industry’s finest of 2010. Whether or not a person or film should win an award is entirely subjective, so my opinion might differ from yours. I will try to look into the Academy’s representation of people of different races, genders, and the different genres of films in the industry.
The 83rd Academy Awards The Academy kicked off the decade with an allwhite list of nominees across all 4 of their major awards (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress). Along with that, the honorary prize of the night for Best Picture was snagged by The King’s Speech, where Colin Firth portrays King George VI as he struggles to overcome his stammering problem in the face of World War 2. The win was a somewhat predictable choice, the historical drama pales when placed alongside fierce and inventive contenders such as The Social Network or Inception, which had a more considerable long-lasting impact on film culture in the past decade.
The 84th Academy Awards This year's Oscars sported a more diverse array of nominees than the previous years. With movies like The Help receiving nominations for Best Actress, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actress. The film centres on African Americans
working in white households in Mississippi, with terrific performances from the likes of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. The Academy also acknowledged Demian Bichir, a Mexican American actor, for his performance in A Better Life with a Best Actor nomination. All-in-all, the only exciting win of the night was The Artist, the first silent film to earn the title of Best Picture since the very first Oscars in 1929.
The 85th Academy Awards Everyone who watched the 2013 Oscars are all witnesses to the historical moment when Quvenzhane Wallis became the youngest ever nominee for Best Actress for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild at just 9 years old. The Awards also saw Taiwanese film-maker Ang Lee taking home his second-Best Director Oscar for his work in Life of Pi. The film also received a nomination for Best Picture, where Michael Haneke’s Amour also received a nom in one of the Academy’s rare occurrences of putting a foreign film in contention.
The 86th Academy Awards I have always remembered the 86th Academy Awards as the year of 12 Years a Slave. The film took home the highly coveted Best Picture award for its brutally honest narrative of an African American man who had been sold into slavery. It scored Chiwetel Ejiofor a nom for Best Actor and Lupita Nyong’o her Best Supporting Actress win, which propelled her into immediate stardom. Despite its immense popularity among both critics and audiences, 12 Years a Slave did not take home the most Oscar wins. Mexican director and film-maker Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity dominated the technical categories and left awards seasons with an impressive 7 Oscar wins.
The 87th Academy Awards The defining moment of this years’ awards season was the #OscarsSoWhite, which blew up the internet. All twenty acting nominees across the four categories were white. And this wasn’t due to the lack of talented POC in the industry. For instance, the Academy completely disregarded Ava DuVernay, director of Best Picture nominee Selma, by not giving her a Best Director nom. Eddie Redmayne took home Best Actor for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, with what, in my opinion, is one of the most heartfelt and pure Oscar acceptance speeches of all time. The race for Best Picture was tight this year, with frontrunner Boyhood and its unique production process that lasted over twelve years losing to Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) starring Michael Keaton.
The 88th Academy Awards It seems as if the backlash the Academy received the previous year wasn’t enough for them to reconsider their all-white nominees across the acting categories. Not to mention, the show started with host Chris Rock kicking the showoff with another fruitless joke, now at the expense of Asian children. The Best Picture award went to Spotlight, an Oscar frontrunner since its release, so the win wasn’t all that surprising. Mad Max: Fury Road was the Gravity of 2015, taking home nearly all awards for the technical categories with 6 Oscar wins. Lastly, this was the year Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his first Oscar. He won the award for playing Hugh Glass in The Revenant, another frontrunner that took home 3 wins.
The 89th Academy Awards The year of the entire La La Land-MoonlightBest Picture fiasco. The moment presenter Warren Beatty announced that he had been given the wrong envelope and that Moonlight was the real winner of the Best Picture awards was perhaps the single most awkward moment of the decade. Although La La Land didn’t win Best Picture, it was still the first musical to be nominated for the award since 1979. All confusion aside, Moonlight taking home the win was well deserved, the film also took home awards such as Best Adapted Screenplay. This year's Oscars had a much-needed diverse array of nominees, with Mahershala Ali and Viola Davis receiving Oscars for Best Supporting performances in Moonlight and Fences respectively.
The 90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards was jam-packed with firsts. The Shape of Water became the first and only science-fiction film to win Best Picture. Director Jordan Peele became the first black recipient of the Best Screenplay award with critically acclaimed Get Out, which was a well-deserved surprise considering the Academy’s long history of disregarding horror films. Legendary NBA player Kobe Bryant (may he rest in peace) became the first and only NBA player to win an Oscar for his animated short Dear Basketball. The Academy has again awarded the Best Picture title to ‘safe choice' The Shape of Water when compared with the complicated relationship portrayed in fellow nominee Phantom Thread and near-perfect horror film Get Out.
The 91st Academy Awards In the first host-less Academy show, Black Panther’s Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Beachler became the first black women to win in their categories (Best Costume Design and Production Design). Netflix’s Roma by Alfonso
Cuaron was the predicted winner of Best Picture, an intimate family drama set in 1970s Mexico. It lost, however, to Green Book, another example of an inoffensive feel-good film to win the award. On a more positive note, Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for her powerful performance in If Beale Street Could Talk, a film based on James Baldwin’s novel of the same name. The past decade has been a bumpy one for the Academy Awards. While some people are happy with the Academy’s efforts to diversify, others think that it is going at a rate so slow that it might not be enough to keep up with our everchanging society. With the 92nd Academy Awards just around the corner, I’m excited to see how the Academy decides to honor the industry’s best of the past year, especially with the likes of internationally acclaimed Parasite and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood battling it out for Best Picture.
Digital hypocrisy, surveillance and other short stories. Alexander Hoek
Source: https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-12-17/so-just-where-will-nsa-stop
Eulogy Whistleblowers have been officially added to the list of critically endangered species. Due to overhunting, their population has dwindled to diminutive numbers as new threats emerge in the digital ether; the marauders go by many names, though observations show that most phenotypes exhibit the form of overzealous institutions who seek to indulge themselves with personal data on every Tom, Dick and Harry under the sun. A number of individuals such as Edward Snowden have escaped certain predation by fleeing to another habitat, whilst those such as WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange are kept hostage. These invasive species are comprised of agencies such as the notorious NSA, as well
as firms such as the now-extinct Cambridge Analytica. To most (hopefully), it is a hardlysurprising fact that our online activities are logged by third parties. We’ve grown desensitized to the daily experience of ads and tracking requests we encounter online. It is the matter of digital privacy, and as we ponder our entry into this century’s Roarin’ Twenties, a peek in retrospect can show us how patterns of technological revolution in the past decade serves to affect it’s progression in the future. Let’s have a look!
Once upon a time... It is the year 2010, and Facebook’s ascent as the monopoly of the social media industry is snowballing: the ‘like’ button has celebrated its one year anniversary; acquisitions of other social media platforms have been made; and by the end of the year, the company is valued at $50 billion. Fastforward almost a decade later and Facebook is valued at just over $500 billion1. Along the way, WhatsApp and Instagram had joined the family. Now, statistically speaking these platforms comprise up to 2.9 billion monthly-active users2. These facts are especially important when considering the 2018 scandal and the subsequent legal fistfights that ensued: Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm accused of stealing personal data of Facebook profiles which they utilized for advertising purposes3. Facebook played dumb along the way; even though Cambridge Analytica shut down not much change has been made by the former with regards to regulations or protective measures. Personal photographs, addresses, tax exemptions, financial details and assets, and all your social-media shenanigans provide pieces to a puzzle that models your persona. This data aggregates over time, and can be used by third- parties in a multitude of ways. One fun way that corporations employ these are for marketing purpose. Since behaviors of certain demographics are modeled, it follows that reverse-engineering their psychology arms profit-driven institutions with tools to better influence their targets. The rising trend of smart homes and smart offices powered by AI is an example; user data and metrics are saved and used for analytics purposes which can include information on your health.
The argument on privacy is often dichotomized as a tug-of-war between national security and personal privacy. In the documentary Citizenfour, Snowden comments “For me it all comes down to state power against the peoples’ abilities to meaningfully oppose that power”. He proceeds to elaborate on the global surveillance capabilities of powerful institutions worldwide. Infrastructure that the NSA has built in cooperation with other government agencies and multinationals serve to intercept information along digital, radio and even analog communication routes. These systems are automated and passive by design, which allows for human interactions across devices to be tracked without the need for active targeting; your whereabouts, spending habits, and other personal details can be viewed on a whim. All points in the communication chain can be used validate your identity as a person, and these include email addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers and device hardware information.
2020 vision. As the internet grows as the infrastructure for information transmission, so too grows the need for measures to protect users from abuse of their privacy. Legislation in the digital age is still playing catch up, and policies are in great need. Once increasinglysophisticated algorithms begin to rule the roost, managing our stocks and tailoring our search engine results, what control is left at the individual’s discretion? Artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities are by design self- perpetual in terms of efficacy. At its very core, technologies like these should serve to better living standards without compromising the basic human right of
privacy. Would you enjoy having your personal information monetized and exchanged as a commodity without your consent or control? https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/numb er -of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/ ma r/17/the-cambridge-analytica-scandalchanged-the- world-but-it-didnt-change-facebook
Go Ducky go, go! What we can do going forward is to minimize how much information you transmit online. These can range from comments on social media posts to filling online forms. A search engine such as DuckDuckGo can be used5, where browsing data isn’t stored by the company. This example shows that such a business model does indeed work, since revenue is generated through advertisements correlated to keywords used in a particular search; contrast this to ads that correspond to your unique advertisement ID. Routing internet traffic through the use of a proxy or VPN adds an extra layer of security and anonymity; the folks at Tor are fighting to ‘take back the internet’ and offer an alternative browser. If you insist on going all the way, you could completely cut yourself off from the internet and exile yourself to the forests of Norway. You could also invest in enterprise-level hardware with built-in encryption, cover your webcam, and use bare-bones operating system such as Linux Tails: this is quite extreme and is the best way to attract attention from the government. In terms of software, open source stuff is potentially safer since everybody is able to chip in and keep tabs on any suspicious lines of code 6.
And the winner is... Now since I’ve been drafting this article, YouTube ads insist on purchasing a drone (How fitting); at least these ones have ousted Grammarly, which has finally sodded off to bother someone else. But it makes one ponder as to what’ll happen if one periodically proclaims ‘chicken nuggets’ into a device’s microphone. Will the browsing experience improve? Update: Grammarly has come back from the grave to haunt me. https://rubygarage.org/blog/open-sourcesoftware-security 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_B._Goode 5
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/duckduckgoanonymous-privacy
The Last 10 Years in Astronomy and Physics Arseniy Pavlov
T
he overarching theme in this issue is a recap of the past decade. We are already more than a month into 2020, but it still doesn’t hurt to look back at the events that occurred in the past decade. Being personally interested in space and space exploration, I decided that it would be great to look into an overview of the greatest discoveries and breakthroughs in astronomy and physics, and to see how these findings will impact our future technologies, as well as how they change what we know about the world as it is.
Higgs Boson For most physicists, the end goal of physics is the Grand Unified Theory: One of the most fundamental and revolutionary discoveries came as early as 2012. On 4 July, scientists at the CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) discovered the Higgs boson. This is one of the many elementary particles. They are even smaller than the proton and neutron in an atom, and their interaction with each other is the basis for the existence of everything in this universe. The importance of the Higgs particle lies in its use. Firstly, this was a key component to validating the accuracy of the Standard Model of Physics, which is the theory that explains the relationship between the fundamental forces of the universe. In essence, decades of predictions and scientific publications were now justified and properly supported solely by the discovery of the Higgs boson. In terms of the particle’s application, it is said to be the particle responsible for giving all the other particles their respective mass. For these reasons, the discovery of this tiny particle had huge consequences.
Space Missions For astronomy, the early 2010’s was also quite monumental. To begin with, in August 2012, the legendary Voyager 1 spacecraft officially left the Solar System. This small satellite, launched all the way back in 1977, was set on a trajectory to fly past all the planets of our system and collect data in the process. By August 2012, most of the data was already collected, the probe was left to keep cruising away and away. It was and still is the furthest man-made object from us. 2 years later, in 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) made the first ever successful landing on a comet. The Philae lander descended on the surface of the relatively small, very fast flying rock, but unfortunately, ended up on the dark side of the comet. This meant that it could not use its predesigned solar panels, which would’ve supplied the instrument energy, and it was left to hibernate on that same rock. Not to worry, however, as it did manage to briefly detect an icy surface and traces of basic elements like carbon on the surface. Among another notable spacecraft were the New Horizons mission, which passed by our most distant neighbour, Pluto, in 2015, taking incredible photos of its surface and allowing us to see it in colour, as well as the Cassini mission in 2017. The Cassini mission, which has already been going on for more than 19 years, was created to study Saturn, its rings and moons. On September 25, 2017, the probe, running out of fuel and energy, was sent headfirst into the dense atmosphere of the gas giant to burn up. This choice was deliberate: to avoid any possible contamination of any of Saturn’s moons.
Gravitational Waves With space missions largely out of the way, let’s discuss another astonishing discovery: the first notice of gravity as waves in 2016. It is common knowledge that some mysterious force called gravity is responsible for keeping objects on the surface of the Earth. It pulls us towards the ground, no matter where we stand, yet we have no idea where it is coming from and how it exactly affects us. The renowned Albert Einstein, in his work on the exotic theory of General Relativity (1915), proposed that as large masses move through the universe, or space-time, they bend the space around them. For this to be true, these objects thus had to emit a new form of radiation: gravity. However, gravitational waves were partially detected long before 2016, from very distant and fast spinning clusters of mass called pulsars. For concrete evidence for the existence of gravitational waves to exist, the ripples had to be observed directly, which is exactly what happened. The discovery of gravitational waves creates a brand-new field for physicists and astronomers to explore, and as technology evolves further and bigger gravitational detectors get built, who knows what kinds of signals we will be able to discover?
Messier 87 Finally, we approach the most recent, and perhaps the most popular event of all. Only in 2019, NASA published the world’s first image of a black hole. This was done through the cooperation of multiple observatories around the world, who zoomed in on the center of galaxy Messier 87, where the monstrous object, 6.5 billion times greater in mass than the sun, lies. At their core, black holes aren’t really holes, nor do they have a colour. Our current view is that these are regions of very tightly packed matter. Because of this, black holes have an incredible force of gravity, so strong that even the quickest particles, photons in the
visible light we see, are unable to escape. Because they don’t emit light, it is difficult to observe and study these objects. In the photo, you can see the singularity in the center, pitchblack, as light is not able to evade it. Around it is a glowing ring of matter, which glows because it has not yet passed the event horizon: the point of no-return for any normal particle. This matter rotates around the black hole at very quick speeds and radiates waves. However, the image is still blurry, but this is to be expected for a first try.
World’s first image of a black hole
To summarise the last decade in physics and astronomy, the 2010’s have proven to be revolutionary in expanding upon concepts that were known or only predicted before, opening brand new possibilities for research. Looking towards the future, there are many innovative things that are yet to come. For example, the first human trips to Mars around 2025. A grander, bigger version of a gravitational detector around 2030, as well as the first nuclear fusion reactor around the same time (ITER), which by itself could offer unlimited possibilities in energy gain. With the new year already underway, let's hope for a brighter future and progress in science!
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Six years later. Nicole Scatton
T
he Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, also known as MH370, was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared on the 8th of March 2014. The aircraft departed at 12:41 am, local time, from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and was supposed to arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport. In the airplane there were a total of 10 flight attendants, all of them Malaysian and 227 passengers, including 5 children1.
tracked afterwards, at around 1:30 AM by the Malaysian military and civilian radar, deviating westwards from its planned flight path, crossing the Malay Peninsula and Andaman Sea. An Inmarsat satellite in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean received hourly signals from flight 370 and the plane was last detected at 8:11 AM. Up to this day, all of the passengers and the 12 crew aboard are presumed dead making this the deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 2.
Flight 370 reached an altitude of 10,700 metres (35,000 feet) at 1:01 AM, this was only 6 minutes before the The Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which transmitted data about the aircraft’s performance, sent its last transmission at 1:07 AM and before being switched off. Although the aircraft lost communication with the ACARS, it was
After the disappearance of the flight a search for the airplane itself started and it soon became the most expensive search in aviation history.
1
2
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-
airlines/590653/
The search focused on the South China and Andama seas where several pieces of marine debris were found and confirmed of being from the aircraft between 2015 and 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370#Possible_causes_of_dis appearance
However, after looking across 120,000 square kilometres of ocean, the aircraft was still not located as a whole, the activities were therefore stopped in 2017 due to the costs and partly failure. A second search launched in January 2018 by the private contractor Ocean Infinity, but it also ended without success after six months. There are currently three main hypotheses on the causes of the disappearance of the flight. The first one includes an involvement with the passengers, the second one an involvement with the crew members of the flight, and the third one involving the cargo3. On the flight there were two men with stolen passports which has raised much questioning since the beginning of the search. There were two Iranian men who were believed to be asylum seekers; therefore, The Secretary General of Interpol stated the organisation was “inclined to conclude that it was not a terrorist incident”. However, there are still doubts about another passenger who worked as a flight engineer. He was under suspicion as a potential hijacker due to his relevant “aviation skills”. Regarding Captain Zaharie, he was also identified as a suspect since his last words were “Good night Malaysian” at 1:19, two minutes before the airplane changed route and connections with it
3 https://www.britannica.com/event/Malaysia-Airlines-flight-370-disappearance
were completely lost, which is not enough time for someone to hijack the plane. However, there is still not enough proof to conclude this. Regarding the cargo of the flight, Flight 370 was carrying 10,806 kg of cargo, four of which ULDs of mangosteen for a total of 4,556 kg, and 221 kg of lithium-ion batteries. Lithiumion batteries can cause intense fires if they overheat, which has led to strict regulations on their transport aboard aircraft due to previous incidents. According to the head of Malaysian police, the people who handled the mangosteens and the Chinese importers were questioned for being responsible of sabotage4. Looking back at this incident 6 years later, it still does not seem possible to not have the complete answers of what happened, but just hypothesis and public speculations as the Malaysian government is unwilling to release further information. The idea that a sophisticated and massive machine such as an airplane can just vanish seems to be beyond the realm of possibility up to this day. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 still remains the biggest mystery of the last decade.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1233016/mh370-news-malaysia-airlinesflight-370-missing-plane-mh370-solved-spt 4
The Decade of the Minorities Jelle Biemans
H
omelessness in Canada is an invisible problem for most. For others it is very prominent. Toronto’s homeless centres have been overflowing for years, while the city increases efforts to remove homeless camps under overpasses. It is a minority group that is often overlooked. A lot of homeless people are self-sustainable, others are in serious need for help. Leah Denbok, living in Ontario, was inspired by her mother to shine a light on the people who have nowhere to call home. Her mother was abandoned at the age of 3 and found on the street by a police officer. Leah collected 70 photographs of homeless people in the state of Ontario. Not only that, she talked to the homeless, established a personal connection and made new friends. In her book “Nowhere to Call Home” Leah shows her photographs with hopeful and reflective dialogue between her and her models.
The Netherlands has its own difficult history with minorities. Especially this century, we got to see the rise of Pim Fortuyn in 2001, a former Dutch politician notorious for his remarks about the Islamic faith, changing the socio-political climate in the Netherlands. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all Muslims in the Netherlands were suddenly seen as the enemy. With remarks such as “Islam is a retarded culture”, Fortuyn reached national news. For Dutch populists, these remarks were just what they needed to help them realise that their chauvinist streets were being taken from their grasp by intruders. Suddenly they had to share their beloved homeland with ‘terrorists’. The exclusion of Muslim immigrants led to radicalism and soon the populist’s point proved itself. Now every two years or so a new Pim Fortuyn finds their fame in the defamation of some minority.
The photobook was a successful attempt to start a conversation. Leah’s story reached the national news and prompted many people to think about how they act around homeless people. Leah is not alone on her quest to spread awareness around marginalized social groups. Everywhere around the world people fight for their equality, whether that be social, economic or political. Leah also inspired the creation of the “Our Community Photobook”, a school initiative to spread awareness for the minorities in our local community.
The xenophobia for Muslim immigrants is not the only thing that kept the frustrated population of the Netherlands busy. In 2018, after the suit company “Suit Supply” released an advertisement campaign where two men can be seen kissing, the whole country was in uproar. In cities such as Amsterdam the posters were quickly vandalized and the “reformatorisch dagblad” (reformed newspaper) launched a countercampaign asking people to boycott Suit Supply”. For the victims of homophobia it is difficult to choose which
is worse, the pamphlets distributed emphasizing the sinful nature of your sexuality or the fact that a corporation is using your sexuality to make money from the controversy it causes. In the end, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. These are two pressing examples of that. However, what we do about that opinion is a different debate. An old children’s show I have long forgotten the name of once taught us that both love and hate are infectious. Although a slight feeling of cringe lingers around that statement, I do think it is true. On the long term, positive thinking and love is much more sustainable than hate. After Pim Fortuyn made his comments about Muslims, lots of people expressed their support for Muslims and their culture.
When the Reformed newspaper spread their pamphlets, it prompted other Christian organizations to emphasize their support of all sexualities. Whenever discrimination starts to dominate the social climate, we remember that for some minorities equality does not come naturally and that is unacceptable. This is why the Our Community photobook focusses on the appreciation of people from all social groups. Instead of only listening to the Pim Fortuyns of our next decade, let us be open to the perspectives of the voiceless. If you would like to know more about the photobook or if you would like to contribute, go to @our_community_stories on Instagram.
The Rise in Poverty: The ’s Fathan Arfie
P
overty is defined as being extremely poor, which in this context means people who live in insufficient living conditions or under $1 a day. This number has skyrocketed over the past decade with 1.85 billion people living in poverty worldwide. These reasons could be dismissed as overpopulation, however other reasons such as conflict and unstable governments could also play a major role in contributing to the worldwide issue as shown in figure 11.
Raul. “Mapping Extreme Poverty Around the World.” HowMuch, howmuch.net/ar ticles/peopleliving-inextremepoverty-2018.
1.
2.
Figure 1 showing the areas with the most poverty around the world
Peer, Andrea. “Global Poverty: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help.” World Vision, 2 Jan. 2020, www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news stories/global-poverty-fact.
Roser, Max, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. “Global Extreme Poverty.” Our World in Data, 25 May 2013, ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty.
It is no surprise that the places that have the most unstable governments are responsible for having the most people living in extreme poverty than any other place. Some examples would be African nations such as Liberia and the DRC. This issue can be placed on many reasons, one of which is the lack of welfare available. Welfare is essential for any functional society as access to health and unemployment aid can be seen as necessary in any developed nation. Welfare such as healthcare is essential to prevent infant mortality rates which are so apparent in underdeveloped nations, as well as unemployment benefits to prevent families 2from living under $1 a day. As a result, it can be argued that having an incompetent government can lead to extreme poverty for its citizens 3 So, what leads to an unstable government? Many would argue the main cause is conflict as the number of coups and revolutions that come with toppling an oppressive regime would lead to instability. On the other hand, it can be argued that the main reason for instability in governments is the corruption 3. 4.
“The Top 9 Causes of Global Poverty.” Concern Worldwide, www.concernusa.org/story/top-9-causes-global-poverty/. Harrington, John. “From the Solomon Islands to Liberia: These Are the 25 Poorest Countries in the World.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Nov. 2018, eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/11/29/poorest-countries-world2018/38429473/.
that comes with unfit leaders. These issues are mainly apparent in new governments, especially those that have come out of an era of colonization as they have little experience handling a new democracy, especially when they had no say in the previous oppressive governments. The reason why corruption has such an effect on poverty rates is because the money being stolen has a lot of potential in reaching the people through welfare such as schools and healthcare. As a result, with more corruption, poverty is sure to increase. This is because, with more poverty and conflict, a revolution is sure to happen replacing the government with another new and inexperienced government thus repeating the cycle. Furthermore, established governments already have experience in dealing with a democratic governmental structure. Therefore, due to this experience, dealing with poverty can be seen as a basic routine 4.
in poverty as many are not so lucky as to find a livelihood in their new countries. Syria alone makes up 1.5 million refugees with the number increasing each year. Furthermore, conflict brings newer, more unestablished governments leading to poverty due to improper leading. Many of these types of examples come from postcolonial nations such as India, which is home to the largest slum in the world. Others that have had a better position in their colonial periods, such as Singapore have done well due to proper planning. Therefore, due to either past or newer conflicts, both cases create a situation where an unstable government is able to take advantage of the people5.
To conclude, these examples have mainly caused poverty in the past without answering the question on why it has thrived for so long and continues to. These reason for this can Figure 2: map of be placed as overpopulation and colonialized countries inaccessibility to proper resources. Many of the people in poverty stay poor as there are not enough opportunities especially for those who are not provided or can afford an Beauchamp, Zack. “500 Years of European education to become skilled. These Colonialism, in One GIF.” Vox, Vox, 16 Jan. 2015, conditions can only worsen as time goes on, www.vox.com/2014/5/8/5691954/co due to the inevitability of overpopulation. As lonialism-collapse-gif-imperialism. a result, poverty is only going to keep Another major reason for the rise in poverty growing at the present moment due to all the could be conflict, as seen with countries such proper conditions needed for it to thrive. as Syria. This constant conflict is already responsible for the displacement of thousands of peoples which contributes to those living
5.
6.
Roser, Max, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. “Global Extreme Poverty.” Our World in Data, 25 May 2013, ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty. Harrington, John. “From the Solomon Islands to Liberia: These Are the 25 Poorest Countries in the World.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Nov. 2018, eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/11/29/poorest-countries-world2018/38429473/. “Does Corruption Cause Poverty?” Does Corruption Cause Poverty?, www.globalpolicy.org/un-reform/49137-does-corruption-causepoverty.html. 4
7.
“Refugees of the Syrian Civil War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War.
The past 10 years in numbers: More jobs and less criminals Esmee Mathijs
O
n the first of January, the new decade started. How Dutch people have experienced the last decade is subjective, however, numbers can give us a clear indication of the changes in the country. The Dutch Central Office for Statistics (CBS), analyses every year according to six major themes: inhabitants, job market, income, residence, criminality and the environment. In this article I will be explaining and elaborating upon how the Netherlands has changed, for each of these six themes in the last decade.
Inhabitants In 2010, the Dutch population counted 16.57 million people. Over the last 10 years, this has increased with over 700 thousand, making the Dutch population
roughly 17.3 million people at the end of 2019. An increase of 227 thousand is due to natural growth, the rest, due to migration. The average age of the Dutch population has also increased; 1 in 5 is older than 65.
Job market The number of people working has also increased in the last 10 years. In 2010, the number of working people was 7.4 million people. In late 2019, 9.5 million people are active in the job market. There is also a significant increase is those suffering from a burn-out, especially women between 25 and 35 years old. This could be due to increase of mobile phone usage, which has increased the intertwining of work and private lives.
Income
Environment
Another trend that can be seen between 2010 and 2019 is an increase in income. The gross domestic product (GDP) rose with 8 percent and is currently on 43 thousand euro per person of the total population. This trend can be explained by the strong economic growth that has been seen since 2015.
A theme that has been central throughout this last decade is climate change. In which the focus has been on the increase the rise in global temperature. So, let’s look at how the Dutch temperatures have changed over the last decade. In 2010, the average year temperature was 9.1 °C, it was the first time since 1996 that it was below 9,8 °C. The highest temperature measured in 2010 was on the 9th of July: 36,2 °C. The lowest temperature was measured on the 20th of December: -16,9 °C.
Residence At the end of 2010, the Netherlands counted 7.2 million houses. Over the last decade, this number had increased to over 7.8 million houses at the end of 2019. This seems like a lot; however, it was just enough to keep up with the growing number of households.
Criminality The change in criminality is more difficult to describe with numbers. This is because there is a lot of different types of crime, but most importantly, because there are a lot of crimes which are not reported to the police and therefore not considered in statistics. Overall, the number of crimes committed has dramatically decreased in the last decade. In the last ten years, 25% less Dutch people became victim of violence, vandalism or property crimes. However, cybercrime has not been included in this data recordings. Cybercrime is something that has increased significantly over the last decade due to the fact that everything in our daily lives is becoming digitalized.
In 2019, average year temperature was 11.2 °C. The highest temperature measured was 40.7 °C, measured on the 25th of July. The lowest temperature was measured on the 20th of January and was -10.2 °C. The overall average temperature has thus increased significantly over the last decade. The greenhouse gas emission did decrease in the last ten years with over 10 percent. We also saw a significant increase in electric cars. Towards the end of 2019, there were more than 45 thousand electric cars driving the Dutch roads.
To sum it all up This generated data by CBS has given us a clear overview from the development of the Netherlands throughout the last decade. Whether this development is positive or negative, can be interpreted different for each of the different fields. The change in income, housing and level criminality has definitely improved in the last 10 years. We do see an increase in inhabitants and an increase in overall temperature, something that can be seen as a negative development.
The fourth wave of feminism
The U.S. military removes a ban against women
Malala Yousafzai, Youngest nobel peace prize winner ever
The Women’s March, The largest single-day protest in the history of the U.S.
The woman empowerment and gender equality bill
The release of 'Why we should al be feminists'
Hillary clinton, first woman to be nominated in a presidental election
Women allowed to government services in Saudi Arabia
The explosion of the #Metoo movement Ireland’s Abortion Rights
1st All-Woman Spacewalk
Simone Biles became the most Decorated Gymnast in History
A Stormy Forecast for 2020 Zuzanna Kardzis
T
he new decade has been welcomed
topic in public debate. Anyone planning on
globally with fireworks, festivals,
financing fossil-fuel projects will find it
champagne,
and
difficult to do so, as the strategies will cause
forecasts. It is impossible to predict and plan
commercial banks to pursue greener business as
what the coming decade will bring us, however
well. Moreover, climate change has also been
it was correctly predicted that the malaria
on the agenda of the International Monetary
mortality rate would decrease, autonomous cars
Fund during meetings in October last year
would be commercially available for sale and
where it announced they will be incorporating
that no additional countries would adopt a
environmental risk in their economic analysis2.
best
wishes
universal basic income. As unpredictable as the world has proven itself to be, forecasters worldwide were not discouraged after many correct predictions concerning the past year. Again, the forecasts for the coming year have been shared with both expected and unexpected declarations to have made the cut. What stormy forecasts can we be expecting?1
1
“Forecasting the World in 2020.” Subscribe to Read | Financial Times,
Financial Times, 27 Dec. 2019, www.ft.com/content/078d232e-269e11ea-9a4f-963f0ec7e134.
2
Randow, Jana. “Global Central Banks Share Strategies in Guide to
Greener Future.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 17 Oct. 2019,
The likelihood of Matteo Salvini seizing power in Italy
Global central banks will be joining forces to opt for more environmentfriendly business
Although populists have claimed a smaller majority of the votes during European Parliament elections in May last year, it is predicted that populist leader Matteo Salvini The central bank community will be sharing
will be gaining power again. Recent polls have
strategies that promote sustainable investment
indicated increased popularity for the leader
as climate change is becoming an important
who himself has been campaigning for his
comeback. However, a victory for Mr Salvini in
The world has proven itself to be entirely
the Emilia-Romagna region could make the
unpredictable4. However, the chances of these
chances of a far-right leader a lot greater. If he
three predictions being true are very plausible.
succeeds, he will become the first Italian far-
It’s important not to forget that we are entering
right leader since World War II.
a completely new decade that will see many different changes, impossible to predict. These
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-17/global-central-banksshare- strategies-in-guide-to-greener-future.
and other predictions are products of the past caused by dissatisfaction and need for change.
The chances of a second Arab Spring Almost a decade ago the world witnessed revolts in the Middle East known as the Arab
To add one final and personal prediction: the decisions and outcomes in the coming decade will take us all by surprise.
Spring. Last year further anti-government protests took place in Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon, strengthening the possibility of a second Arab Spring. Many protestors have learned from past mistakes and are seeking new goals. Protestors reject sectarian beliefs but remain to be influenced by the trust gap. Even so, the protests remain peaceful and the new Arab Spring has already affected 12 out of 24 countries. Will protestor demands be met?3
3
Muasher, Marwan. “Is This the Arab Spring 2.0?” Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/30/is-this-arabspring- 2.0-pub-80220.
4
Staff, Fortune. “2020 Crystal Ball: Predictions for the Economy, Politics,
Technology,
and
More.”
Fortune,
Fortune,
22
Jan.
2020,
fortune.com/2019/12/02/2020-predictions-recession-presidential-racetechnology-climate-change/.
Cover Art: ‘Untitled’ by Sihaam Eleiwi, 2020 See it yourself at the DP2 Exhibition