Disruptive Technologist – May 20, 2020: COVID-19 & Technology Discussion

Disruptive Technologists mission is to inspire, guide, advise, teach, change, and create disrupters. Their in-person New York City meetings draw a weekly impressive crowd of 300 with standing room only. It is graciously hosted by Microsoft in their NYC building auditorium. Their communication distribution reaches over 20,000 developers, founders, investors, hackers, startup teams, professors, students, journalists, other media, vendors, corporations, and entrepreneurs.

Each week the panel of regulars and guests discuss pressing issues of the day and how technology can be positively leveraged as well as issues such as security and privacy. The May 20th discussion revolved around the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, Dennis Velco of OutBüro was invited to be a panelist bringing an LGBTQ perspective to the discussion.

The full panelist line up:

1. Esther Dyson, Executive Founder at Wellville & Angel Investor
2. Voltaire Xodus – Founder of WeUp and Impact Philanthropy
3. Dennis Velco – Founder of OutBüro – The LGBTQ Professional and Entrepreneur Community Platform
4. Moy Ogilvie. Partner at McCater & English

Q1: New York Cities’ poorest are dying at more than twice the rate of more affluent neighborhoods. Is this just to be expected in Modern America?
– Poorer areas lack adequate medical care.- Diabetes and Hypertension are more prevalent in low-income communities.- 94,327 US Deaths. – What could we do better?

Q2: The Apple/Google contact tracing app update was released today. Is it too little, too late?
– Combined Market Cap over $2 Trillion Dollars.- First Chinese cases December, US cases in February.  – Only for Bluetooth enabled smartphones.- What are the better solutions?

Q3: Amazon has called itself ‘The New Red Cross’. Without useful Government assistance, is this the new reality?
– A workforce of 270,000 in the US and 800,000 globally. – Vast majority working in warehouses at $15 per hour. – During this talk Jeff Bezos made an additional $9 Million dollars. 

There are more important things than living and that’s saving this country.

Dan Patrick – Lt. Governor of Texas – March 31, 2020

Who is your: Hero of the week and villain of the week
What technology or Diversity & Inclusion approaches do you like right now?

To learn more about Disruptive Technologies find them on their many soical media chennels listed below:

• Digital Publication: www.DisruptiveTechnologists.com
• Event Site: https://www.meetup.com/Disruptive-Technologists-in-NYC/
• LinkedIn Site: linkedin.com/in/laurenkeyson
• YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/disruptivetechs
• Facebook Site 1: https://www.facebook.com/LKeyson1
• Facebook Site 2: https://www.facebook.com/LKeyson
• Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/disruptivetechs
• LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disruptive-technologists
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DisruptiveTechnologists
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disruptive_techs/?hl=en

About the author: Dennis Velco

An LGBTQ social entrepreneur who focuses on strengthening the global LGBTQ+ through connecting, engaging, online, and in person.