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1.
⏯ +
🔂
Icon: enlarge
DĂ©jĂ -vu
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
So the new
shutdown will start
on Monday
, or should we say: is it going?
Germany presses the pause button, the Chancellor and the country leaders agreed today.
A "health emergency" should be avoided and the spread of the coronavirus should be stopped, said
Angela Merkel
after the meeting: "We have to act - and now."
Then only a maximum of ten people from two households are allowed to meet.
Bars, pubs and restaurants have to put their chairs up in November, only takeaway sales and delivery services are allowed.
Theaters, cinemas, concert halls, cosmetic studios, massage practices and brothels should also close.
But shops, daycare centers and schools remain open
.
Could a shutdown be avoided
by better protecting the elderly and
those with a
previous illness, introducing a new warning light and calling on everyone else to practice more mask and distance discipline?
This was demanded today by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the well-known
virologist Hendrik Streeck
(read more about him here).
My colleague Katherine Rydlink from our health team is skeptical:
"All the appeals of the past few weeks have not brought enough."
She found the appearance of Streeck and Co. to be weak.
"Anyone who goes public with a grand gesture today, on the day of the decision, should offer convincing alternatives - but there weren't any."
Katherine thinks: The experts have only created more confusion and conflict.
You can read more about the Corona resolutions here: These restrictions apply from Monday
2. I get locked down, but I get up again
The consequences for psyche, economy, culture?
Difficult to predict.
Many small business owners have used up their reserves, others are so deep in the grave that bankruptcy would actually be inevitable (more on this here).
But
so far there has not been
a
wave of bankruptcies
, also because the government relaxed bankruptcy law.
Now Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) apparently wants to enforce that the state compensates for up to 75 percent of sales losses.
The World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart warns, however: "
Many companies from the retail, catering and entertainment sectors will never recover."
(You can read a detailed conversation with her here.)
My colleague Volker Weidermann
talked
to the
Berlin-based cartoonist and comedian Fil
about
what all of this means for creative professionals and freelancers
.
He doesn't find the shutdown funny at all.
(Click here for the book show "Spitzentitel".)
Icon: enlarge
Warm Fil-Com
Photo: DER SPIEGEL
I can't write about Fil without violating the distance requirement, the journalistic one.
I have adored him since my school days: his
"Didi & Stulle" comics
appeared in the city magazine "Zitty" (an early corona victim), they were required reading in the schoolyard.
When Fil was on stage with his Sharky hand puppet in Kreuzberg, I was in the audience.
When I call friends from back then, a snippet of a sentence from a fil-gag is enough - like our parents say "It tastes" is enough to think of Loriot.
And quite possibly one or the other missed word game in this newsletter will have to do with how my synapses interconnected under the influence of Fil.
Fil drew this picture for "Die Lage" readers today:
Icon: enlarge Photo: Fil
We are giving away the drawing,
along with three-month free access to SPIEGEL +.
Just write an email to LageamAbend@spiegel.de.
The right click is excluded, the pure Fil-Freestyle rules.
You can find the program "Spitzentitel" here: Wortspielhölle?
Yes, I, Fil
More about the consequences of the shutdown here: What does a November shutdown mean for Germany?
3.
Automatic against the people
Icon: enlarge
Selfie awareness
Photo: 
Matias Delacroix / dpa
I am probably too naive, but as long as Siri understands "knockout table" when I say "chaotic", my fear is limited that the
machine
is about to take over
power
.
The face recognition in the photo app also reliably confuses Captain Picard from "Star Trek" with my father, although they really don't look alike.
But maybe Apple's algorithm wants to use it to prove emotional intelligence.
In Italy they are working on a system that aims to track down tax evaders by analyzing data from social networks, classifieds and auction platforms: Does the luxury on Instagram photos match the zero income in the tax return?
"Those who are poor but don't look poor on selfies could run into problems," reports my colleague Patrick Beuth.
The technical term is:
Automated Decision Making, or ADM for short
.
Experts have now analyzed over a hundred ADM systems in 16 European countries - with the result: "
The vast majority of people put people at risk rather than helping them."
Patrick says: "I am most concerned about systems that automatically interpret human behavior and trigger some kind of alarm when someone does something unexpected."
Surveillance cameras interpret movements as suspicious, but so does the Italian tax Instagram example.
"We quickly get to the point where the state determines what is 'normal' and desirable behavior, and what can lead to consequences as an individual deviation from the standard."
Is there a film that everyone knows that illustrates ADM systems?
"The most accurate representation to date does not come from Hollywood, but from the comedy series 'Little Britain' and can be summed up in three words," says Parick: "Computer says no."
You can find one of the skits here on Youtube.
And Patrick's text with all the backgrounds can be found here: If Instagram is supposed to betray a tax evader
What else is important today
And now again with feeling:
Ex-President Barack Obama is using the time until November 3rd to campaign for his former Vice-President Joe Biden.
His appearances are reminiscent of a time when many things seemed more hopeful.
"Nobody in Lebanon is making more plans":
A massive economic crisis, most recently the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut - many young Lebanese only want one thing: get away.
The German-Lebanese author Pierre Jarawan on the "lost generation".
ErdoÄźan describes "Charlie Hebdo" as "obscene":
The front page of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" shows Recep Tayyip ErdoÄźan in a caricature.
Now the Turkish president has spoken up himself - and is outraged.
Expert considers handling of Giffey's plagiarism affair to be unlawful:
The Berlin CDU parliamentary group demands that the plagiarism proceedings against Family Minister Giffey be reopened.
The Christian Democrats rely on an expert report commissioned by them.
Olive oil in the Nefertiti Hall:
At the beginning of October, strangers damaged 70 works of art on Museum Island.
According to information from SPIEGEL, the attack was apparently committed with olive oil.
50 objects have to be restored.
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
The fear of the whale sails with you:
46,000 kilometers across the Atlantic and around the Antarctic, around 80 days on the high seas alone: ​​Boris Herrmann is the first German to take part in the Vendée Globe.
Here he is talking about the greatest dangers.
How holy are the three kings?
The social debate about Black Lives Matter and Cancel Culture doesn't stop at the Christmas story either: The depiction of the Melchior causes excitement.
What skills do we need now?
In the corona crisis, many people are thinking about starting a new career - because they want or have to.
What skills are required in times of upheaval?
Answers from a psychologist.
Which is not so important today
Actor couple Sawatzki and Berkel
Photo: 
Jörg Carstensen / picture-alliance / dpa
Grandchildren
: Actress
Andrea Sawatzki,
57, may not have a completely coherent communication behavior when it comes to expectations of her family.
She told the "editorial network Germany" on the one hand that she wanted grandchildren, but on the other hand she also said: "I hope my sons can still have a lot of time with having children and getting married."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "The apparently drunk driver was still able to stumble and fled on foot with his 28-year-old co-driver."
Cartoon of the day:
legacies
Icon: enlarge Photo: Thomas PlaĂźmann
And tonight?
If the reality is not gloomy enough for you, you could
watch
the
perfectly formed dystopia "Exit"
on ARD.
It is set in the year 2047, a German start-up developed the invention of the century.
"Okay, that's really unrealistic, but let's follow the mind game. People live on as virtual avatars in an absolutely realistic cloud," writes my colleague Arno Frank.
The whole thing is called "Infinitalk"; it enables encounters and conversations with the deceased.
"A dystopian science fiction film on this level has never been seen on ARD," says Arno.
(You can find the review here. You can find the film in the media library here. And it will be shown on linear television at 8:15 pm.)
Icon: enlarge
Cloud strength
Photo: 
SWR / ARD
Have a nice evening, Sincerely,
Oliver Trenkamp
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.
