You may not know yet, but we are in the middle of a global pandemia 😉
In these weird days of confinement and uncertainty, where some sense of individual and collective vulnerability arises, many interesting societal reflections are showing up. Many of them pointing out societies will deeply change after this.
I have no idea what will happen. In the eye of the storm is difficult to think clearly. One think I know is that many public discussions will take place on many issues like welfare state, public policies, crisis management, liberalism, democracy, globalisation, etc. I am sure many changes will come at many levels, but not sure how deep they will be, knowing systemic adaptability and our “fish memory” (these days many people have reminded us this is not the first time in history we experience something like this...).
However, focusing on present, we can draw some interesting reflections on economics and environment so far. Some of them are: the role of excessive affluency growth on ecosystems and their impact on human health; how interconnected are we due to globalisation (someone got a virus in a Wuhan market just some months ago and I get it today!); how communication technologies bring us closer, not just for socialicing, but medical sciences are collectively working in an interesting way to find out solutions, etc.
One issue I have been thinking of is climate change. As many scholars have suggested, this crisis will provide many lessons for policy-makers and society in general. Similarly to exponential contagion curves, complex cascade effects in ecological and climate systems due to excessive carbon emissions lead us to excessive costs when we act too late, if not impossibility to act. Time horizons are very different (weeks versus decades), but same logic applies.
Source: Bjørn K. Haugland: @BjornKHaugland
You can stop it soon at a low cost, or stop it when it has spread widely, assuming high costs in human lives and for the economy. Yes, now I am talking about climate change. We must act now to avoid a catastrophe. Tests are important to detect the problem and stop it soon. In both cases we must believe in science.
Be safe and stay home!
Jaume