Questões de Concursos

Soa improvável, sei. mas de acordo com alguns autores a maior ameaça à humanidade não são as bombas nucleares nem as mudanças climáticas. São os computadores. Dizem que eles ficarão mais inteligentes do que a gente, se isso já não aconteceu, e assumirão o controle. Sempre achei essa ideia duvidosa. Consigo entender o perigo dos explosivos atômicos, e as mudanças climáticas me aterrorizam, mas os computadores? Basta puxai- o fio da tomada.

Ou não. Foi o que pensei, dia desses, durante um evento sobre energia renovável. Falava um doutor inglês dos mais competentes. Logo mais, dizia ele, vamos economizar eletricidade através de informática caseira. Ela vai nos cobrar tarifas diferenciadas de acordo com a função de cada eletrodoméstico e o horário. Ligar o secador de cabelo na hora do pico, entre 18 e 22 horas, por exemplo, vai custar uma nota. Já quem quiser ver televisão durante a manhã vai pagar pouco.

Os preços serão organizados por um telão feito pela Nintendo, ou, talvez, outro fabricante de videogames ou celulares, explicou. Todos nós poderemos competir para ver quem economiza mais energia. Não estou inventando nada. Ouvi tudo isso do inglês. Ganharemos pontos — e dinheiro — se, por exemplo, deixarmos de utilizar a escova de dentes elétrica, optando pelo modelo manual.

Tive uma revelação paranoica nesse momento. É assim que as máquinas tomam o poder, pensei. Mas logo afastei a ideia. Sou fã da informática. Gosto dos computadores, até mais do que eles gostam de mim, desconfio.

(Matthew Shirts. O jacaré e o computador. http://vejasp. abril, com.br. Adaptado)

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Violence Prevention Among Young People in Brazil

Crime and violence have increased dramatically in Brazil in recent decades, particularly in large urban areas, leading to more intense public debate on causes and solutions. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights. Having security means living without fearing the risk of violation of one’s life, liberty, physical integrity or property. Security means not only to be free from actual risks, but also to be able to enjoy the feeling of security. In this respect, human rights are systematically undermined by violence and insecurity.

UNESCO expects to play a primary role in supporting actions of social inclusion to help in the prevention of violence, especially among young people. The attributes and resources to be found in the heart of the Organization’s different areas will be grouped around this objective.

Violence is seen as a violation of fundamental human rights, as a threat to the respect for the principles of liberty and equality. An approach focused on the access to quality education, to decent jobs, to cultural, sports and leisure activities, to digital inclusion and the protection and promotion of human rights and of the environment will be implemented as a response to the challenge of preventing violence among youths. Such approach should also help in creating real opportunities for young people to improve their life conditions and develop their citizenship.

(www.unesco.org. Adaptado)

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What is organized crime?

Organized crime was characterised by the United Nations, in 1994, as: “group organization to commit crime; hierarchical links or personal relationships which permit leaders to control the group: violence, intimidation and corruption used to earn profits or control territories or markets; laundering of illicit proceeds both in furtherance of criminal activity and to infiltrate the legitimate economy; the potential for expansion into any new activities and beyond national borders; and cooperation with other organized transnational criminal groups.”

It is increasingly global. Although links between, for example, mafia groups in Italy and the USA have existed for decades, new and rapid means of communication have facilitated the development of international networks. Some build on shared linguistic or cultural ties, such as a network trafficking drugs and human organs, which links criminal gangs in Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Pakistan, Dubai and South Africa. Others bring together much less likely groups, such as those trafficking arms, drugs and people between South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia, or those linking the Russian mafia with Colombian cocaine cartels or North American criminal gangs with the Japanese Yakuza. Trafficked commodities may pass from group to group along the supply chain; for instance heroin in Italy has traditionally been produced in Afghanistan, transported by Turks, distributed by Albanians, and sold by Italians.

Organized crime exploits profit opportunities wherever they arise. Globalization of financial markets, with free movement of goods and capital, has facilitated smuggling of counterfeit goods (in part a reflection of the creation of global brands), internet fraud, and money-laundering. On the other hand, organized crime also takes advantage of the barriers to free movement of people across national borders and the laws against non-medicinal use of narcotics: accordingly it earns vast profits in smuggling migrants and psychoactive drugs. Briquet and Favarel have identified deregulation and the “rolling back of the state” in some countries as creating lacunae that have been occupied by profiteers. The political changes in Europe in the late 1980s fuelled the growth in criminal networks, often involving former law enforcement officers. Failed states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sierra Leone, have provided further opportunities as criminal gangs smuggle arms in and commodities out, for example diamonds, gold, and rare earth metals, often generating violence against those involved in the trade and in the surrounding communities. Finally, there are a few states, such as the Democratic Republic of Korea and Burma and Guinea-Bissau (once described as a narco-state) where politicians have been alleged to have played an active role in international crime.

Organized criminal gangs have strong incentives. Compared with legitimate producers, they have lower costs of production due to the ability to disregard quality and safety standards, tax obligations, minimum wages or employee benefits. Once established, they may threaten or use violence to eliminate competitors, and can obtain favourable treatment by regulatory authorities either through bribes or threats.

(www.globalizationandhealth.com. Adaptado)

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What is organized crime?

Organized crime was characterised by the United Nations, in 1994, as: “group organization to commit crime; hierarchical links or personal relationships which permit leaders to control the group: violence, intimidation and corruption used to earn profits or control territories or markets; laundering of illicit proceeds both in furtherance of criminal activity and to infiltrate the legitimate economy; the potential for expansion into any new activities and beyond national borders; and cooperation with other organized transnational criminal groups.”

It is increasingly global. Although links between, for example, mafia groups in Italy and the USA have existed for decades, new and rapid means of communication have facilitated the development of international networks. Some build on shared linguistic or cultural ties, such as a network trafficking drugs and human organs, which links criminal gangs in Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Pakistan, Dubai and South Africa. Others bring together much less likely groups, such as those trafficking arms, drugs and people between South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia, or those linking the Russian mafia with Colombian cocaine cartels or North American criminal gangs with the Japanese Yakuza. Trafficked commodities may pass from group to group along the supply chain; for instance heroin in Italy has traditionally been produced in Afghanistan, transported by Turks, distributed by Albanians, and sold by Italians.

Organized crime exploits profit opportunities wherever they arise. Globalization of financial markets, with free movement of goods and capital, has facilitated smuggling of counterfeit goods (in part a reflection of the creation of global brands), internet fraud, and money-laundering. On the other hand, organized crime also takes advantage of the barriers to free movement of people across national borders and the laws against non-medicinal use of narcotics: accordingly it earns vast profits in smuggling migrants and psychoactive drugs. Briquet and Favarel have identified deregulation and the “rolling back of the state” in some countries as creating lacunae that have been occupied by profiteers. The political changes in Europe in the late 1980s fuelled the growth in criminal networks, often involving former law enforcement officers. Failed states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sierra Leone, have provided further opportunities as criminal gangs smuggle arms in and commodities out, for example diamonds, gold, and rare earth metals, often generating violence against those involved in the trade and in the surrounding communities. Finally, there are a few states, such as the Democratic Republic of Korea and Burma and Guinea-Bissau (once described as a narco-state) where politicians have been alleged to have played an active role in international crime.

Organized criminal gangs have strong incentives. Compared with legitimate producers, they have lower costs of production due to the ability to disregard quality and safety standards, tax obligations, minimum wages or employee benefits. Once established, they may threaten or use violence to eliminate competitors, and can obtain favourable treatment by regulatory authorities either through bribes or threats.

(www.globalizationandhealth.com. Adaptado)

Seleção artificial

As guerras não ajudam muito a remediar o que se denomina (bombasticamente) de explosão demográfica: os que ficam em casa aproveitam a deixa para multiplicar-se. E como os que partem são agora escolhidos entre os mais aptos de físico e de espírito, imagine o pobre leitor o que não será isso para a evolução do Homo sapiens...

(Mário Quintana. Da preguiça como método de trabalho, 2013)

Quem se lembra ainda de Victor Hugo: “Rápidos voamos tempos, nascem muitos poetas todos os dias”. Não são poetas apenas que nascem, mas romancistas, críticos, e ninguém quer saber mais do que passou: todos querem ser atuais, atualíssimos, numa febre de futuro que tem o erro de proporção das visões de todas as febres: pois, ai de nós!,o futuro de hoje é o passado de amanhã e, quando já não estivermos vivos, para defender com unhas e dentes as nossas obras, elas terão de comparecer sozinhas diante do tribunal do mundo.

Rápidos voam os tempos, e não podemos dispor dos lazeres dos nossos avós, que não liam tanto, mas liam certamente melhor. Boa gente, que podia acompanhar folhetins,letra por letra, embora na atualidade ainda haja quem acompanhe novelas de rádios (não tão boas), suspiro por suspiro e lágrima por lágrima...

(Cecília Meireles, Escolha o seu sonho. Adaptado)

Leia o trecho de A ilustre casa de Ramires, de Eça de Queirós, para responder à questão.

Bocejando, apertando os cordões das largas pantalonas de seda que lhe escorregavam da cinta, Gonçalo, que durante todo o dia preguiçara, estirado no divan de damasco azul, com uma vaga dor nos rins, atravessou languidamente o quarto para espreitar, no corredor, o antigo relógio de charão. Cinco horas e meia!... Para desanuviar, pensou numa caminhada pela fresca estrada dos Bravais. Depois numa visita (devida já desde a Páscoa!) ao velho Sanches Lucena, eleito novamente deputado, nas Eleições Gerais de abril, pelo círculo de Vila Clara. Mas a jornada à Feitosa, à quinta do Sanches Lucena, demandava uma hora a cavalo, desagradável com aquela teimosa dor nos rins que o filara na véspera à noite, depois do chá, na Assembleia da Vila.

(Eça de Queirós, A ilustre casa de Ramires. Disponível em: www.dominiopublico.gov.br)