[Stefan]

#11883

Hey Timothy! Oh, right into a hot topic I see. Hope others will join in!

It kinda hard to unravel such a huge this topic. To keep the post short I will talk about predicting how the virus will spread, just to be sure to finish writing this post before the actual end of the crisis, and maybe give a different input from the usual news!

Focusing in particular on what AI can do today. We often see it as a magic wand that one day will fix every problem of the world, but we often forget what there is beneath: Mathematics and Data. So, let’s see how they work here:

– Mathematics: pandemics-like models are highly studied in Mathematics! And there are countless of visual-representation of them on YouTube (my favourites: 1 and 2). So, here we are highly covered.

– Data. The hard part of this pandemic: we do not have reliable data. There are in particular two crucial points on this:

1) it takes several days for someone to get sick and show symptoms, and some of them don’t even report it because the effects on them may be highly mild. We also have reported COVID carriers which are completely asymptomatic (with some of the first reports here and a study on the Diamond Princess case that estimated them to be about 17.9%).

2) We do not have a complete picture of how many cases there are. Other than the asymptomatic, the fact that we cannot test everybody means that we will never have. However, by testing as many people as possible we can get a better picture of the situation and what measures we should take is specif parts of the country.

Even though we may have some pretty good Mathematical models on how the virus may spread our lack of precise Data will make any prediction for how the virus will spread too hard to be accomplice precisely. That’s why the US, which at first seemed in better shape than Europe, has had an explosion in such a short time. Meanwhile, other countries in est-Asia were able to fight back the virus more effectively by testing and scanning more (they also applied other questionable measures, but I guess we should let privacy for another post!). Europe and the US may have not been ready for it, but hopefully, we will be for when the next will come.

I think this was a good rundown of just some thoughts I wanted to share, hope to hear your opinion and from the others, too!

[Stefan]

#11843

Hi everyone! I guess it’s the time for us newbies to present ourselves!

My name is Stefan Djokovic, and I am a Software Engineering student at PoliMi. I’m in my third year, and while I live in Milan during the lesson periods, I like to come back to my hometown, Domodossola, during the exam sessions and holidays, and pandemics!

As my field of studies may suggest, I am very interested and passionate about technology. Saying tech may be too broad of a term, but I really enjoy every single bit (pun intended) of it. From Smartphones to PCs, from AI to Complex Systems, from Personal Assistances to Automated Cashiers, everything that surrounds tech and the change it poses to our world really excites me. In particular, I really find interesting how the AI could change our world and the ethical dilemmas (and if these also interest you, I would suggest giving a listen to the Artificial Intelligence Podcast, by Lex Fridman (yes, I love podcasts)).

On the opposite end, I enjoy humanity and our cultures. My family has Serbian origins, and I was born and lived my life in Italy. This has given me the chance to note all the slight differences between Italian culture and my family’s in my daily life. These differences have interested me so much that I always wanted to find different perspectives, and this has pushed me into taking an Exchange Year in Norway during my Fourth Year of High School. This was an experience that has changed radically my perspective of the world many different ways that would be too long to write about in an introductory post. To summarize the outcome, this experience has built a Stefan that is more open-minded, more interested in people, more knowledgable and aware of our world.

Other than Tech, my interests are World Politics (as a viewer rather than an active participant), Videogames (even tho I don’t really play that much nowadays I enjoy looking into the new games), Animes (same as for videogames), and just anything that attracts my mind at the moment (any topic, really, I enjoy learning anything about any kind of field).

I think my main reasons for joining you may be already clear from above: learning how Silicon Valley works from meeting the people that work there and living there for a week, while also meeting many other participants that have the drive and many interesting ideas to share! What an amazing combination!

I guess this post is already too long for a presentation, so I will be closing it. I’m very happy to be joining you on this forum, hope to see many of you around!

Stefan

 

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