Hi there.
In this video, we will look at security issues.
When do we label something as a security or safety issue?
As you've heard in the previous video, safety revolves around being
protected from harm caused by non-intentional failure.
Security, by contrast, revolves around being protected from harm
caused by intentional human actions or behaviors.
These are very high-level abstract definitions of safety and
security, they leave many questions unanswered.
One important question is, what is being protected from harm?
Or in other words, what is the object of protection?
In this video, we will take a critical look at this question.
The main lesson to take away from this video is,
what we consider to be safety and security issues varies across the world,
from one country to the next and has changed a lot throughout history.
Safety and security do not mean the same thing for people in different countries,
and the meaning of these concepts has changed over time.
To phrase it differently, safety and
security are historically and culturally variable.
Let's explore what that means.
On a general level, what we seek to protect from harm can be any object,
be it material or immaterial, that we as human beings value.
Let's look at a couple of examples to see how this works in practice.
We value our health so we exercise and
we eat healthy foods to prevent ourselves from falling ill.
Moreover, we ensure that food producers adhere to strict safety procedures so
that foods we eat are safe.
The protection of our health is indeed an important security issue.
Here's another example, we value peace because war and
strife may bring all sorts of risks to our physical and psychological well being.
This is one of the reasons why politicians spend so
much energy on keeping international relations stable on our behalf,
and why national security is a theme that is high on their agenda.
Both examples focus on entirely different things that we value:
one focuses on health and food, the other on maintaining peace.
As they reveal, there's a wide range of thing we may value and
seek to protect from harm.
What is essential to understand is that what we value and
seek to protect is culturally and historically variable.
What does that mean?
Let us first focus on cultural variability.
In relation to security cultural variability simply means that different
people from different cultures value and seek to protect different things.
In some countries, protecting the environment
may be very high on the agenda, whereas in others, less so.
In some countries, privacy is considered a fundamental right and
hence, worthy of the utmost protection.
In others, it is not.
Both examples reveal that there is cultural variety
with respect to the things people value and hence, consider to be security risks.
Now let's look at historical variability.
Throughout history, many changes have taken place in the issues
that we consider to be in need of protection.
We now value and protect many things that didn't warrant protection in the past.
Think of all the many safety measures we now use to protect public buildings,
work places, our homes and even our various modes of transport.
Or think of the ever increasing security checks at airports.
All examples of how new perceptions of security risks
lead to new forms of protection.
Now what human beings value and seek to protect also defends on the level of
perceived control they feel they have over potential harms.
From many centuries, human beings feud almost all threats to safety and
security as acts of super natural forces.
These threats were external.
They were just a fact of life, a given.
If a thunderstorm struck a town and all houses burned down, or
if a disease wiped out thousands of people, these phenomena were simply
explained as acts of divine intervention against which no protections existed.
Gradually, however, mankind created more and
more protective measures to insulate itself against harms.
Inventions in medicine, housing, infrastructure,
financial systems and in recent times modern technology slowly helped us to
protect ourselves better against all sorts of hazards and threats.
Interestingly, while these inventions have steadily led to better protection,
they've also generated an increased awareness of vulnerability.
As mankind created more protections against harm,
it also became more aware of where potential further risks still lie.
If you believe that disaster can strike anytime
at any place entirely at random and that nothing can be done to stop it
then you won't spend much time worrying about how to prevent it from happening.
However, if you have the means to protect what you value,
you feel you have the ability to affect the outcome.
Now you can make decisions about how to best protect that which you hold dear.
It may also entail unfortunately that you become less risk tolerant.
The more you increase your control over risks, the more difficult it becomes
to accept that not all risks in life can be banned or eliminated completely.
Now, let's do a short recap.
In this video, we discovered that safety and
security issues often arise when the things that we value are harmed.
So what sort of things do we value?
What we value and hence seek to protect has varied greatly throughout history,
and still varies today across different cultures.
One important aspect is the level of control that people have
over mechanisms of protection.
Do they feel like they can protect themselves?
And do they have the means to do so?
However, while more control has steadily led to better protection,
it has also generated an increased awareness of vulnerability.
How this influences more on thinking about safety and
security will be discussed in the next video.