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Cancers and COVID-19, Political Matters
Jun. 10th, 2021 09:03 pmOne of my roles at work, apparently so allocated because I have some degree of social skills and some ability to understand domain science, is to organise forums and case studies of interesting use of our technologies. I am particularly pleased over the past few days that I have worked on two such projects, one being a forum by Associate Professor Bernie Pope who has exceptional expertise in human genomics and cancers. Bernie used the Spartan system and the associated cloud compute platform quite extensively in our early days and continues this research. The second, alas, must remain unnamed as their big research project is, as yet, incomplete, but it involves a senior medical scientist with quite a complex workflow (and I say it's complex, it really is), engaging in reconstructions of everyone's friend, SARS-CoV-2. It really is working closely and supporting the computing resources so that scientists like these can make the world a better place that is one of the roles in my life that I take some pride in.
With a little bit of a reversion to a previous life, I have also found myself somewhat involved in a political case, specifically the role of Australian foreign policy in the coup against the elected socialist government of Salvador Allende of Chile in 1973. I have written a few words on the matter, including my own personal reflections as this was formative in my own political views. It might sound strange for one who has been so involved in political life, but like most, I don't actually like much of what constitutes politics, that is, the acquisition of power and the prevention of others from acquiring knowledge or rights. This is why this issue of Chile is important; we want to know what Australia's role was in installing a dictatorship that led to the death, torture, and rape of tens of thousands of people. Yes, there are operational "national security" issues. But this is fifty-year-old information. We need to have a political culture where we, the people, can expect transparent access to the actions of our governments. Such a right will not be generated by the niceness of our rulers, but rather it will have to be forced upon them. As always is the case, you might not be interested in politics, but politics is very interested in you. Because it defines the rules under which we live.
With a little bit of a reversion to a previous life, I have also found myself somewhat involved in a political case, specifically the role of Australian foreign policy in the coup against the elected socialist government of Salvador Allende of Chile in 1973. I have written a few words on the matter, including my own personal reflections as this was formative in my own political views. It might sound strange for one who has been so involved in political life, but like most, I don't actually like much of what constitutes politics, that is, the acquisition of power and the prevention of others from acquiring knowledge or rights. This is why this issue of Chile is important; we want to know what Australia's role was in installing a dictatorship that led to the death, torture, and rape of tens of thousands of people. Yes, there are operational "national security" issues. But this is fifty-year-old information. We need to have a political culture where we, the people, can expect transparent access to the actions of our governments. Such a right will not be generated by the niceness of our rulers, but rather it will have to be forced upon them. As always is the case, you might not be interested in politics, but politics is very interested in you. Because it defines the rules under which we live.
