Dr. Bahaa Helmy Writes: Corona and the Fall of Human Arrogance

The corona crisis has revealed the inability of the various countries of the world to control the movement and spread of the virus or to prevent it from passing from one place or person to another. Most countries failed to read the indicators of the crisis before it occurred, because they paid no attention to the warnings about this mysterious and unknown killer called “the novel coronavirus” — while Egypt excelled in assessing the situation well and dealing with the unprecedented crisis in a scientific manner and with calm and measured steps. The inhabitants of the earth were gripped by fear and panic, the decisions and policies of different governments conflicted, and rates of infection and death rose beyond the capacities and resources of hospitals and intensive care units, which led to the exhaustion of medical supplies and equipment and to states scrambling over how — and whether it was even possible — to obtain more of them in the face of the vast waves of infection. The role of the media, and especially electronic communication sites, stood out in spreading more fear among peoples and rulers alike. The coronavirus revealed not only the inability of the great powers — economically, militarily and technologically — to predict the crisis, but also that these states had no strategic visions for managing such crises. The state governors called on American President Trump for a national strategy to confront this virus, which struck countries and people relentlessly, heedless of borders or sovereignty. Japan resorted to forming a committee of wise men to assist in managing the crisis, and it was the best; and the World Health Organization took center stage and greatly influenced the methods of confronting the crisis. Production, manufacturing and transport stopped, food supply chains to various countries were affected, world trade was disrupted and material losses mounted, constituting the greatest threat to the global economic system. The United States and Britain exchanged accusations with China over the virus, at a time when most countries of the world import medical supplies from the latter. This historic scene shows how weak the health institutions of the world's countries are and how unable governments are to take appropriate decisions; it has also revealed the selfishness of states that used to boast of slogans of democracy and humanity, seizing medical necessities without cooperating or sharing with the neediest peoples in this crisis. On the other, bright side of this crisis, “Egypt, China, Russia, Cuba, Somalia and others” provided aid and sent officials and medical teams — states that had previously been classified by the United States and the European Union as undemocratic and not committed to human rights — at a time when everyone else hid away, so that the world witnessed the extent of human contradiction and malice. The failure of the developed countries of the world to confront this pandemic is the best proof of the fall of the human arrogance long promoted by the international and digital media, whether in the claim to protect human rights and democracy or in the boasting of technological, economic and military capabilities and the manufacture of the “robot” (literally, “the mechanical human”). We saw footage of robots distributing food to patients' rooms, spraying floors, or monitoring people and tracking their movements around the clock, without any effect or effective role for these machines in confronting the pandemic, compared with the enormous human capabilities, resources and efforts made by the members of the white army. Applying the term “mechanical human” to electronic machines and equipment, some of which appear dressed in human clothes, expresses the height of the arrogance and haughtiness that has afflicted man, and what has become of human morals and values. The human mind, which conceived, invented and promoted the intelligence of robots and their ability to take decisions, has been helpless before a virus invisible to the naked eye. However great the technological, nuclear and biological capabilities that artificial intelligence reaches, lending a spirit of grandeur and reinforcing human arrogance in the great power and in everyone who possesses such capabilities, they stand helpless before this human ordeal. So down with the unethical behavior of man, who dared to apply the term “human” to any machine or technological equipment made by human beings. Man must return to religious, moral and human principles and values and to his short life on earth, strip himself of the arrogance of the superpower and come down from the lofty umbrella of illusion to stand on the ground of reality — a hope that may be far-fetched, given the human arrogance rooted in the limited human mind.