If you are one of the folks who love great management insights, you open the pages of the Harvard Business Review magazine – old and new issues alike. Me too.
Today, I landed on the May-June 2017 issue. On page 19, is an advert by Microsoft Cloud, with a captivating title:
“The Mission
What is technology could stop the next epidemic before it happens? Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their DNA to identify new diseases early.
Machine Learning
New mosquito traps are getting smarter every day. These traps measure distinct patterns of insects’ wings make while flying and capture only mosquitoes. This improves both efficiency and accuracy in the field and the lab.”
Welcome back.
The Coronavirus pandemic happened in December 2019, two years after the Microsoft Cloud advert. It continues to wreak havoc globally, disrupting everything in its wake.
As of today, 28,493,074 people have been confirmed infected and 915,602 have died from the virus. The pandemic has caused a lot of suffering in terms of loss of loved ones – brothers, sisters, relatives and friends, lost livelihoods, and family separation. The rate of suicide due to hopelessness and loneliness is increasing globally.
How I wish Microsoft’s research had worked and saved the world lots of suffering and mayhem this pandemic has brought.
But again, technology has limits.
When you lose your way, you go back to the starting point to be good to one another. Do not be greedy. Stop wars and human rights abuses. Even the greatest emperors are no more.
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
