Topics of social interest

In these lines are gathered some of the most consulted topics in these times, when the human being is within the reach of a click of an immense source of information, such as the Internet.

The concepts are classified by disciplines so that the reader can easily locate them. This syllabus is not intended to be an abbreviated dictionary of terms, but rather a reference for users who want to broaden their general knowledge and learn about the topics that are most on the internet search table.

They are subjects that cover many aspects and even with crossed visions , which, far from overlapping, enrich the perspectives.

In this sense, arranged alphabetically, seven categories have been chosen , namely:

• Science and technology : autonomous driving, space exploration, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of things, Virtual Reality.
• Sport : doping, soccer in pandemic, Tokyo 2020 Olympics and pandemic.
• Ecology : hole in the ozone layer, environmental pollution and gender, desertification, Greenhouse Effect and global warming.
• Economy : unemployment, migration, poverty, Consumer Society.
• Medicine : drug addiction eating disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, obesity, pandemic 2019-2020 .
• Psychology : anxiety, emotional dependence , stress, resilience.
• Sociology : abortion and adolescent pregnancy, School Bullying, discrimination, gender violence.

Why have we made this classification? Simply, to have a little more order and to show everything clearly. Labeling was not intended. What is really sought is to give some guidelines in the midst of the variety of things that seem to be of interest.

Science and Technology

Since the 19th century, technology has been on the world agenda . The arrival of rationalism leaves us the belief in progress and technology. In this case, people have considered technological utopias … which in certain cases have come true.

For example, the idea of autonomous driving has been raised , of cars that move without human driving to minimize accidents. Likewise, of virtual reality or the reach of the Internet.

1) Autonomous driving

Technologies such as autonomous driving, connected cars or the internet of things are transforming the automotive industry and the connection of users with vehicles.

Fully autonomous vehicle manufacturing is expected to be a reality in the coming years . It is expected that in a short time we will have cars that can move without the need for a driver. It is expected that there will be fewer accidents on the roads thanks to this measure!

2) Space exploration

In the 1990s, Life magazine predicted that in the year 2050 tourists will visit Mars. According to the publication, the trip will last seven months and will include a stop at a space station that orbits the Earth and serves as a springboard for space explorations.

It is in everyone’s interest: many believe that perhaps we should populate another planet. Also, perhaps obtain resources from another planet . Earth’s resources tend to run out. And they are not renewable! For this reason, trips to space are a constant topic of interest in society.

An example is the case of the trip to Mars , as well as the interest in revisiting the Moon.

3) Artificial Intelligence

It is the set of programs that are applied to the computer to perform learning and self-correction functions .

Without going into the peculiarities of a mathematical nature, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems use neural networks (algorithms), structures of arborescent branches, similar to the functioning of human thought.

Do we have cases of artificial intelligence? Well, various computers and gadgets. Likewise, certain software that has independence for decision-making.

4) Internet of things

It is a nomenclature that appeared in 1999, although it has been developing since approximately 1981, and has become popular in the last decade, which implies the digital interconnection of the world of everyday objects with the international telematic network (Internet).

In English, it is Internet of Things (IoT). The concept speaks more about the interconnection of objects with the network than with users.

Its importance? Everything would be connected by the web. Examples: current cell phones … everything would be monitored by the web.

5) Virtual Reality (VR)

It is an audiovisual simulation of a real or imaginary environment by means of three-dimensional synthesis images.

Stereoscopic visors , more gloves and suits with body sensors are used to make the interactors feel immersed in the artificial space .

They are used in games and in simulators to train pilots . It is expected that it will also be used for other educational purposes.

These are just some of the topics of scientific interest , although many others. For example, that of cloning or the creation of robotic prostheses in humans. Likewise, the issue of smartphones seems to have an impact on this debate every time.

Sport

Sport is part of our daily life . Many sports leagues receive the attention of millions of people. People talk about these things often, so we wanted to add them to this list.

6) Doping

The doping is one of the most worrying issues of the sports scene since contravenes the ethical principles and healthy sport competition.

According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), doping is the consumption, by an athlete, of any substance foreign to the body, ingested or injected, in order to increase, in an artificial and dishonest way, competitive performance.

There are cases of athletes who test positive after achieving medals and records. So in the future it is expected to create controls against this activity.

7) Soccer in a pandemic 

The football is one of the popular sports and industrialized countries most affected by the pandemic that is causing the Covid-19.

The governments of Germany and Italy and their respective leagues, for example, fear that once soccer activity is resumed, it will have to be paralyzed by the appearance of the foreseeable positives between the teams.

Can we have sports again? Can stadiums be filled? Perhaps, the coronavirus affects one of the main entertainment of people.

8) Tokyo 2020 Olympics and pandemic

In 124 years of history, the Olympics have never before been postponed. Due to the two world wars, the Olympics were suspended in 1916, 1940 and 1944

It is a fact that the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics have been stopped by the pandemic. Will these games be held in another year? Otherwise, the long tradition of Olympic games will be interrupted.

Once the subject of sports is closed, we want to indicate that sports have filled people with goals and hopes. Therefore, it is an issue that worries today’s societies .

It is added that sport is also a business . Many leagues generate income from stadium tickets, advertising, television rights, etc. So sports activity is also imbricated in economic meanders.

Ecology

Let’s now talk about ecological issues . It happens that the conservation of the environment is a core issue nowadays. Society has used the earth’s resources to the extreme. Similarly, the issue of pollution seems to disrupt the environment.

Ecological debates are not new. It has been several decades in which the greenhouse effect has been talked about. Also, from the excessive amount of waste that falls into rivers and seas. For this reason, it is a topic that we should indicate as very pertinent to social interest.

9) Hole in the ozone layer

It is a sector of the stratosphere in which a temporary decrease in ozone concentration is observed each year .

According to scholars on the subject, the hole is due particularly to the destruction of ozone by the chlorine emanated by the disintegration of halogenated hydrocarbons (chlorofluorocarbons) generated by humans. The hole sits almost permanently above Antarctica.

If this hole grows, ultraviolet rays will enter the atmosphere. This will make life on the earth’s surface impossible.

10) Environmental pollution 

It has been determined that the environmental pollution of all kinds causes damage harmful to human health.

The human body can assimilate, to some extent, harmful substances; but, its excess causes irreversible negative effects on health. Likewise, it affects the ecosystems and biodiversity of the planet.

We cannot inhabit a polluted planet. We need to become aware. Society must understand that this is a point of debate that it cannot abandon.

11) Desertification

Desertification occurs when the cover of trees and plants that produce cohesion to the soil is removed .

They are determining causes for desertification , the indiscriminate felling of shrubs and trees from the jungles and forests; clearing land for cultivation, intensive agriculture, etc.

It is necessary to take care of the earth’s surface . If we lose, you would be sowing, we will lose the vegetal mantle that gives us shelter and food. Desertification is a process that must be stopped.

12) Greenhouse Effect and global warming

The Greenhouse Effect is a phenomenon that consists of the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Some gases in the atmosphere retain part of the thermal radiation emitted by the earth’s surface after being heated by the sun. The

However, excess pollution has caused the earth’s surface to heat up. This has disrupted much of the world’s ecosystems. The gradual rise in temperatures is a problem that must be avoided at all costs.

We wanted to select the most important topics from the point of view of ecology. However, we must say that this is a complicated matter. Today’s societies in turn have another problem: there are countries that are much more polluting than others.

The world’s major economies (such as the US and China) are responsible for releasing the largest amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, the challenge is these nations minimize the amount of toxic gases in the environment.

However, this is also a problem of another nature . It implies a change in the economy not only of these actions. These countries comprise a good part of the world economy. Therefore, by lowering their production levels, they will economically affect the rest of the world population.

As you can see, it happens that the ecological issue is often intermingled with the economic. He is why next. What we want to touch is the reference to the economy.

Economy

For a long time, the economic is a transcript that has gained relevance in social issues. Since the beginning of explaining human history on the economic basis – thanks to Marxism and its sequel to historical materialism – economics has gained a structuralist mood.

In this 21st century, new economic diatribes appear . People have faced global crises . With the theme of the pandemic in 2020, it is known that there will be an economic downturn whose consequences cannot yet be predicted. 

The truth is that the economy is another undoubted issue of social interest . About it, the points below are usually discussed.

13) Unemployment

The International Labor Organization (ILO ), in its annual report on social and employment prospects in the world for 2020, forecasts that in 2020 the number of unemployed will increase in absolute figures from 187.7 million in 2019 to 190.3 million .

The issue of employment can become a problem on a global scale. The lack of sources of income in certain places makes people move to other territories. Therefore, the next point in this list has to do with migration.

14) Migration

Although migration as a phenomenon has causes of a political, ethnic, ideological, warlike, social, cultural and economic nature , in this synthesis the phenomenon is situated in the area of ​​the economy.

In the 21st century , it is observed that the latest movements of people to the south and north of the American continent and to the main centers of the Western European world, have been marked by the socioeconomic factor.

It is a subject that carries other things : identities, racism , new societies, etc.

15) Poverty

Migration and poverty form an unfortunate pairing, but it is a global reality. The 2018 multidimensional poverty index of the United Nations (UN) stipulates that there are more than 1.3 billion individuals around the planet who suffer from poverty in different ways.

The causes of poverty are diverse , but a series of historical phenomena that favor it have been detected, such as colonialism, war, slavery and invasions.

16) Consumer society 

The consumer society , or mass consumer society, is a term from the socioeconomic area, which defines the current type of society. As described, it is a higher stage in the industrial development of free market societies.

Its corollary is the massive consumption of goods and services , thanks to their enormous production and diversification.

Consequences of a consumer society? There is a loss of many values . Just think this: the goal is to consume, not to produce.

With this we close the section on economic matters. It must be said that the economy is always a social phenomenon . The same happens by the exchange of goods and services. Every society has an implicit economy, which in turn reveals the activities and capabilities of that society.

What awaits us economically in the 21st century? It is a period of undoubted change. For example, China is said to be close to becoming the world’s leading economy, displacing the United States from that position.

Medicine

With the coronavirus crisis in 2020, health has taken an interest in the social debate. Are we prepared to face diseases? Do we really have so many advances in the world of medicine?

The appearance of a new virus has shown that we are fallible. For this reason, the medical issue takes center stage in the world arena.

17) Eating disorders

Among the most common eating disorders are “Anorexia Nervosa”, “Bulimia Nervosa” and binge eating.

The Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in the individual restricts food intake dramatically. Bulimia Nervosa is compulsive eating.

We live in highly stressed societies , where distress problems seem to translate into the way we eat. Should we have an education where we are taught to eat correctly?

18) Drug addiction

Far from what many believe, drug addiction is defined as a chronic disease. Drug addict behavior is characterized by the compulsive and uncontrollable search and use of one or more drugs, even if it generates harmful consequences for health.

Drug addiction has spread throughout the world. It has become a serious crime problem. For this reason, many have thought about legalizing certain drugs. Such is the case with marijuana , which has crowned legal status in several nations.

19) Alzheimer’s disease 

The Alzheimer ‘s disease is between amnesias and involves the partial or total loss of memory. This disease is degenerative, reaching the patient – sooner or later – to the absolute loss of his cognitive abilities.

Today, world life expectancy has increased. However, many people in their old age suffer from Alzheimer’s. There are some medical advances in this regard, but nothing is final.

20) Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The ETS , for short, are infections that are transmitted from one person to another through sexual contact.

The causes of STDs are bacteria, parasites, and viruses; More than twenty types are known, including: Chlamydia, Genital Herpes, Gonorrhea, HIV / AIDS, HPV (Human Papillomavirus), Syphilis and Trichomoniasis.

Since the emergence of HIV , these diseases have gained considerable ground in social debates.

21) Obesity

The epidemiological data on obesity worldwide highlight undoubtedly being at a health and social phenomenon of enormous magnitude and continues a trend accelerated growth, especially in children.

The obesity is a public health problem in both developed countries and developing countries.

Indeed, for the World Health Organization (WHO) obesity is a non-communicable epidemic, which originates at an early age and is multifactorial in origin.

22) Pandemic 2019-2020

Covid-19 is a variant of SARS-CoV2, which causes respiratory infections in humans much more virulent and even deadly than other coronaviruses.

Based on the evidence, the symptoms in people can range from zero obvious symptoms to very complex disease conditions, which are related to generalized inflammation, a product of the excessive immune response of the body, and other complications that are related to diseases. pre-existing patient.

There is no doubt that the coronavirus is the main health issue we have. However, there are other issues in this regard that cannot be ignored.

How advanced are we in medicine? Do health resources reach everyone? Can we create vaccines against coronavirus or cancer? All these doubts are part of the health debate.

Psychology

Many times, we forget that the psychological factor influences societies. Just as physical health is necessary, it happens that emotional and mental health is also necessary.

23) Anxiety

Everyone experiences this type of emotion , because it is a natural psychological mechanism in pressing situations.

However, anxiety becomes a psychological disorder when it is no longer sporadic but an emotion that affects the person’s daily life and, far from subsiding, worsens over time.

In this sense, the anxiety thus described belongs to the most common mental disorders. Furthermore, it is a very widespread problem in large urban societies .

24) Emotional dependency

Being emotionally dependent on another person is not necessarily negative in all cases. A child depends vertically on his parents; they provide emotionally and materially for their children.

In adulthood , people maintain relationships of interdependence; each other cares for, supports and gives affection. Between couples and families this horizontal interdependence is balanced and normal.

Many of our societies suffer from this dependence: between family members, couples, etc.

25) Stress

Stress is the human response of a physiological and / or behavioral nature to a real or supposed threat to the organic or psychological integrity of a subject.

Faced with stress, the body responds with an adaptive response, which can be generalized or specific . When homeostasis is altered, the body goes through a series of physiological and behavioral reactions.

Stress seriously affects health . For this reason, it must be controlled in today’s society.

26) Resilience

Resilience involves a capacity for adaptation and a process that allows people to continue living normally and in balance with the environment, despite contradictory existential situations. The resilient subject is capable of living in an antagonistic and socioculturally depressed environment.

Understood as a process, resilience is associated with a more complex and comprehensive concept, which is part of a human mechanism and stages related to mental health and social adaptation.

The psychological issue cannot be absent. Topics such as stress or anguish are already under public debate. For this reason, we wanted to place them in this list that we show our readers.

Sociology

Here we touch on topics of peculiar interest: they are activities or events that harm the community . Many times, they reflect a crisis of values ​​or the appearance of new behaviors that disrupt the essence of society.

27) Abortion and adolescent pregnancy

Abortion is the voluntary or non-voluntary termination of pregnancy . Adolescent abortion has become a public health problem because there has also been an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies worldwide, especially in developing countries.

The health problems related to the practice of abortion in adolescents are verified in both physical and mental health, since adolescents (and less girls) have the physiological and psychological maturity to cope with the impact of motherhood.

28) School bullying 

The  bullying or bullying consists of several elements, namely: a) physical, verbal, psychological and social. The aggression suffered by a child is produced on a physical and mental level constantly by another student or group of them.

The most limited words in this case are aggression, intimidation, isolation, threats, insults, teasing and other actions that undermine the mental and even physical health of the victims , particularly in ages six to seventeen years. Between the ages of eleven and fifteen, violence reaches significant levels .

29) Discrimination

Today social discrimination weakens the fabric and social cohesion. The latest example of this phenomenon is being observed in the protests of groups of Americans, mostly young people, due to the criminal action of the state police against the black population.

The protests are produced as a reaction to what they consider criminal acts of racial discrimination against the black and Latino population by some white police officers

39) Gender violence

Gender violence, as it has been legally classified in the main countries with democratic freedoms and the rule of law, is due to multiple sociocultural factors.

A list of these should include the following: underestimation of women by placing them on a lower scale than men; the process of socialization of boys and girls develops differently.

Likewise, legal, political and economic discrimination against women; the objectification of the woman’s body; the symbolic differentiation of sexuality between women and men and the equivocal “acculturation” of violence as a mechanism to resolve interpersonal conflicts.

There is no doubt that all these issues are sensitive . They deserve special attention, a debate that largely dictates the future.

Some considerations on the issues raised

As noted in the introduction, the themes described could be related given their multidimensional nature.

How not to doubt that the New Technologies of Communication and Information have changed the strategies, systems, performance, etc., in the world of professional sports?

It is clear that now professional sports use the autonomy of video cameras, robotics, and more effective training systems that even ensure the customization of sports shoes for athletes and their particular needs to improve their performance. Today it is practically impossible for an athlete to dope undetected, because clinical studies are even more exhaustive and infallible.

Contemporary society and that which is projected into the near future, can now access the digital devices in their home to, among other advantages, save time from mechanical work, which can be done by a robot programmed remotely, through the mobile phone. .

It is a fact that purchases can also reach the door of the house, through people or robots. In addition, autonomous driving, connected car or internet of things systems are transforming the automotive industry and the connection of users with vehicles .

These are all important topics. But, without a doubt, the pandemic that has produced Covid-19 is the most tragic global event, in terms of loss of human life, so far this century. From the socioeconomic dimension, it is generating a change in people’s routine, in the way they work, interact, recreate and live, after all.

The 21st century: surprises and challenges of a century

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) have recommended three fundamental preventive measures to people, given that, to date, there is no effective treatment and no vaccine: 1 ) wash hands thoroughly and frequently; 2) cover their nose and mouth when they cough or sneeze (wear a mask when going outside); and 3) avoid coming into contact with other people, especially those who are ill (the so-called “social distancing”).

In the case of children, although the symptoms are much less severe, generalized inflammatory conditions have appeared. The symptoms that have been observed are the following: fever; abdominal pain; vomiting or diarrhea; Rash on the skin; dry and chapped red lips; Red eyes; swelling of the hands or feet; joint pain; dizziness; vision problems; headache and paleness.

Stress and anguish come to play a fundamental role in these times of pandemic. The daily life of towns, counties, cities, regions, has been drastically altered. As a consequence, fear and the feeling of helplessness have spread. 

There are many social issues to discuss. In that case, we hope that the issue of COVID 19 will not blindfold us for the times to come.