I drew my attention while touring the Kitcom exhibition that was held in Doha at the end of October last year and was under the slogan ...
I drew my attention while touring the Kitcom exhibition that was held in Doha at the end of October last year and was under the slogan "safe and smart cities", a large screen for Huawei that displays the faces of the passers-by, analyzes them and displays information about them.
When I asked about this product, Huawei's marketing officer explained to me the multiple benefits of the system from fighting terrorism and arresting criminals to going after minor traffic accidents, but my concern at the time was about privacy violations, and I tried to get answers, but the marketing official declined to explain the products The other referred me to the media officer who asked me to write and send my questions to him.
Before and after Corona
Today, after the Corona pandemic that recent statistics say that China is the first survivor of this flood, we see a change in China's view of technology, as it uses it to fight another enemy that was not taken into account, and this change in these technologies has represented more than others:
Robots are labor, but when a man is powerless
China used the robots in the Corona pandemic to prepare meals in hospitals, multiply waiters in restaurants, spray antiseptics and cleaning, to sell rice and distribute hand sanitizers, as robots are located on the front lines everywhere to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In many hospitals, robots also perform diagnostics and thermal imaging. A Shenzhen-based multi-copter company uses robots to transport medical samples.
According to the Reuters report, a small robot called Little Peanut delivers food to passengers who were on a flight from Singapore to Hangzhou in China, and are currently isolated in a hotel.
Aircraft delivering treatment, not bombing sites
The drones arrived to help in some of the severely affected areas, by transporting both medical equipment and patient samples, this saves time, enhances delivery speed and prevents the risk of sample contamination.
Drones also fly with rapid response devices that can scan pedestrians on the streets to record health information.
There are also agricultural drones spraying antiseptics in the countryside. Drones, which feature facial recognition, are also used to broadcast warnings to citizens in homelessness not to leave their homes.
From espionage to knowing the injured
Accessing public information in China and creating a huge database created control panels that constantly monitor the virus. Many organizations have developed dashboards using Big Data.
Facial recognition and infrared temperature detection techniques are proven in all big cities. Chinese artificial intelligence companies such as SenseTime and Hanwang Technology have claimed to have devised a special facial recognition technology that can accurately identify people even if they are persuasive.
Smartphone applications are also used to keep track of signs about people's movements and to check whether they are in contact with an infected person or not. News agencies reported that China Mobile had sent text messages to government media agencies to inform them of the injured.
The messages included all the details about people's travel history, and CCTV cameras were also installed in most locations to ensure that the isolated people did not leave.
Bitcoin and money-laundering payment applications but viruses
China has expanded its efforts to stem the spread of the Corona virus, and these efforts have included destroying and sterilizing funds with countless hands.
This comes despite the fact that China, according to a survey of the most used countries for electronic payment technologies, where 92% of the residents of major cities in China use Wechat Pay or Alipay applications as the main method of payment. Likewise, in rural China, where 47% of the rural population uses smart phones as a method of payment.
The social contract and the technology contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau established the rules of modern social contract in the eighteenth century that included the relationship of power to individuals and in which individuals implicitly or explicitly accept to give up some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler (or majority decision) in exchange for protecting the rest of their rights.
The Corona pandemic has made the world need to redefine the relationship with technology and create a technological contract that defines when and how special types of it can be used on individuals. During recent years and before this crisis, the name of technology in the minds of individuals was associated with problems of violating privacy and spying on citizens and global piracy.
