BY: BRENDAN AMADI
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| The Author |
INTRODUCTORY REMARK
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, and has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Common symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Other symptoms may include fatigue, muscle pain, diarrhea, sore throat, loss of smell and abdominal pain. While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to viral pneumonia and multi-organ failure. As of 6 April 2020, more than 1,280,000 cases of have been reported in more than 200 countries and territories, resulting in more than 70,500 deaths. More than 270,000 people have recovered. Continue Reading..................
THE 5G NETWORK
5G is a new kind of network: a platform for innovations that will not only enhances today’s mobile broadband services, but will also expand mobile networks to support a vast diversity of devices and services and connect new industries with improved performance, efficiency, and cost. 5G will redefine a broad range of industries with connected services from retail to education, transportation to entertainment, and everything in between. We see 5G as technology as transformative as the automobile and electricity.
In general, 5G use cases can be broadly categorized into three main types of connected services:
• Enhanced Mobile Broadband: 5G will not only make our smartphones better, but it will also usher in new immersive experiences, such as VR and AR, with faster, more uniform data rates, lower latency, and cost-per-bit.
• Mission-Critical communications: 5G will enable new services that can transform industries with ultra-reliable/available, low latency links—such as remote control of critical infrastructure, vehicles, and medical procedures.
• Massive Internet of Things: 5G will seamlessly connect a massive number of embedded sensors in virtually everything through the ability to scale down in data rates, power and mobility to provide extremely lean/low-cost solutions.
THE NEED FOR 5G NETWORK AND ITS RELEVANCE
The spectrum used for mobile communications is becoming congested. Current networks cannot always meet consumer demands for data. During periods of heavy use, consumers may experience slow speeds, unstable connections, delays, or loss of service. The effects can range from annoyances like a streaming movie freezing to life-threatening transmission delays between first responders in an emergency.
The demand for data will continue to grow as the number of devices connected to the internet grows. The number of smartphone users in the United States has increased from nearly 63 million in 2010 to an estimated 238 million in 2018. In 2018 there were 17.8 billion connected devices globally, 7 billion of which were connected devices such as smart home equipment. By 2025 the total number of connected devices is projected to exceed 34 billion.
Industries and consumers will rely on 5G networks to power the devices and transmit the data that drive their daily activities. They will need networks that can provide constant connections, minimal lag times, increased bandwidth to access and share data, and the ability to quickly compile and compute data.
In the health care sector, 5G could enable services such as remote patient monitoring, consultation, and even remote surgery. In transportation, 5G will be the backbone that autonomous vehicles rely on. A 2017 study from Deloitte estimated, “self-driving cars enabled by wireless connectivity could reduce emissions by 40-90%, travel times by nearly 40% and delays by 20%.” Before every pandemic of the last 150 years, there was a quantum leap in the electrification of the Earth.
THE CONSPIRACY THEORY
While a conspiracy theory might be taken to mean any explanation of an event or situation involving a conspiracy, in popular usage (as opposed to technical legal usage) the term carries the pejorative connotation that the appeal to a conspiracy is implausible and based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. Conspiracy theories resist falsification and are reinforced by circular reasoning: both evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of evidence for it are re-interpreted as evidence of its truth, whereby the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith rather than something that can be proved or disproved.
Research suggests that conspiracist ideation belief in conspiracy theories can be psychologically harmful or pathological and that it is highly correlated with psychological projection, paranoia and Machiavellianism.
In the thesis statement of a YouTube video with the innocuous title “Dr. Thomas Cowan, M.D. Discusses the Coronavirus.” The 10-minute video features a man lecturing in front of a whiteboard. It looks like any other low-budget conference video, but that thesis—that pandemics are linked to the “electrification” of the Earth—got certain people’s attention. The video, which was posted March 18, has now been watched more than 660,000 times and has inspired a rather curious, rather dangerous conspiracy theory that the New 5G mobile networks are causing the spread of COVID-19.
5G mobile networks promise faster transmission speeds and lower latency. They’ve been the centrepiece of commercials from various mobile carriers, and they have become a battleground for technological dominance between the United States and China. In 2019, the Trump administration announced their plan for “winning the race” for 5G, and tech sources bemoaned that the United States had fallen behind China in 5G development. Some of the first 5G networks were activated in 2019, and that newness is how 5G somehow got linked to COVID-19 in some people’s minds. But while the circumstances of this specific conspiracy are unique, the links between mobile networks and disease are a prime example of how history repeats itself. Almost every new wireless infrastructure gets linked to disease in one form or another.
A REPROACH TO THE CONSPIRACY THEORY
I disagree on the claims that there is a link between the 5G network, Coronavirus and anti-Christ.
For the past few days, popular pastors and politicians have found a way to link the 5G network with spiritual things and Coronavirus epidemic.
Recall that Oyakhilome told his members in a sermon that the 5G was part of the new world order where some figures of authority in the world were trying to build a religion, economy and government for the entire universe.
Quoting Revelation Chapter 13, he said there is no need for a vaccine, adding that these are part of the Antichrist’s plan for a new world order.
However, Ashimolowo countered Oyakilome’s statement, explaining that there was no correlation between 5G and end-time signs.
He warned Christians not to join Christian leaders in promoting conspiracy theories.
According to him, all those claims were conspiracy theories that had nothing to do with the anti-Christ.
He maintained that COVID-19 was a pandemic and must be dealt with as such.
“If coronavirus is caused by 5G, why is it in his village that does not have a 5G?
“It has always been the nature of Christian leaders to plant fear in their members whenever there was going to be a major world occurrence.
The church should be more concerned about preparing their members for the Second Coming of the Lord instead of condemning a major technological breakthrough.
It’s fake news to associate 5G to coronavirus.
COVID-19 AND ISOLATION: Leprosy as a case study
Leprosy was the scourge of the ancient world. Nothing evoked more fear, more dread, or more revulsion than the sight of these walking dead. That is what a leper was called, a walking dead man. The smell of his decaying flesh would announce his coming long before the tattered scraps of his clothing would be seen, or his raspy "Unclean! Unclean!" announcement he was required to declare, could be heard. The stumbling shuffle of toeless feet, the wandering of sightless eyes and the moan of a cheek less mouth, all pointed to Leprosy, this unseen attacker that slowly destroyed human bodies, and made the individual an untouchable to society.
Leprosy is a vivid and graphic physical picture of the spiritual defilement of sin. Sin is ugly, loathsome, incurable, and contaminating; it separates men from God and makes them outcasts. The instructions given to the priests in Leviticus 13 help us understand the nature of sin: Sin is inside us, deeper than the skin (Leviticus 13:3); sin also spreads (Leviticus 13:8); sin always defiles.
EVALUATION AND CONCLUTION
I urge each and every one of us to discard this concept and idea of always reconciling societal issues, necessary human conditions and experience with Religion. The Christianity we practice today should display an exemplary with the teachings of Christ and religious leaders should focus on the preparation of their members to embrace the second coming of our Lord Christ rather than promoting fake propaganda.
I keep on asking the world this question; The Christianity we practice today is it the same Christianity that the followers of Christ practiced and they were called Christ-like people in Antioch of Pisidia? Why do we always link everything to religion! Few years back Ebola was a pandemic disease that faced some part of the world, Africa precisely but through God’s intervention it came to pass. During the time of Christ, Leprosy disease was also a threat to humanity but when the untouchable is touched by Jesus (cf. Leviticus 13:42), "Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." ‘‘They were tempted to put their security in their own possessions and in their political alliances with other nations rather than in God. Hosea called his people to return to God to receive pardon, healing, and restoration. God does not abandon us; God goes with us, even now in this time of trial and testing. In this moment, it is important for us to anchor our hearts in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and reconcile with God seeking for forgiveness of sins. Now is the time to intensify our prayers and sacrifices for the love of God and the love of our neighbour.
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