Just read this earlier: https://eand.co/will-coronavirus-really-change-the-world-77d16e860996
There’s a topic that’s become fashionable amongst intellectuals these days. How will Coronavirus change the world?
Do you see the work we really have to do now? We have to reverse centuries — and I mean centuries — of colonialism, capitalism, supremacy, patriarchy. Around the world. And there is no way to do that without the rich world investing far, far more in the whole world, from which it’s extracted all the capital and labor and resources, forever.”
Why did Coronavirus happen? It’s predecessors, SARS and MERS? Because poor people in poor countries eat unsafe things they shouldn’t in unsanitary conditions, and then have no healthcare. Bang! A dude in Wuhan eats a bat, and a few months later, the whole world is locked down. Why is he poor in the first place, while some white dude with inherited privilege earns millions for doing nothing of value whatsoever, like “running a hedge fund”? Centuries of colonialism and supremacy are why. Why doesn’t he have decent healthcare and food? Capitalism is why. History is in that sense the truest cause of this pandemic. Centuries of capitalism and supremacy and exploitation and abuse are it’s genesis. The poor dude eating the bat was just an inevitable spark waiting to catch fire.
Our problems are global. They exist at a species level. That dude in Wuhan didn’t have healthcare and decent food — and the bat didn’t have protection or rights — and the whole world crashed down around us. Bang! Every single one of our problems is like that. There’s no local solution to climate change. To ecological collapse. To mass extinction. To skyrocketing inequality. To stagnant economies. To societies being divided into ultra rich and new poor To fascists and authoritarians blaming it all on the nearest powerless minority. Pandemics are just an example of that.
Equality, freedom, justice, truth, selfhood — these notions have no meaning whatsoever at the global level yet in human history.
Lol, that “man eating a bat” is a flaky assumption.
Sure the system is broken and failing at a magnificent scale right now, but to think that we will be able to “fix” it this time and keep it that way is wishful and idealistic thinking.
We get to where we are right now because it’s the natural course of things. everything tends towards chaos. what’s that called? corrosion… entropy. aha.
Colonialism, capitalism, supremacy, patriarchy are inevitable. Economic disparity, fascists, and authoritarians will always be part of reality.
We naturally organise ourselves into hierarchy. We are selfish, we exploit things. We are biased, limited, and susceptible in ways we have always been and will always be.
We’ll evolve and shed some of the limitations and human condition for sure. but it’s an iteration, not a zapping leap of revolution.
Right now the bubble will pop and we will definitely be able to reset, wipe some mess clean, and restart at a larger scale than what we previously can, but we’ll land back here eventually.
Yes right now we have opportunity to build something better, make improvements here and there, set up healthier policies, reduce friction and remove bottlenecks, solidify some supply chain, give birth to innovations and technological advancements, and patch up some systemic failures. But we’ll never be less rotten and foolish than we are, at least not immediately.
The world need refactoring for sure. And perhaps these are possible and can be made more permanent in smaller realms. Perhaps I am just being too pessimistic.
What is ‘the world’, anyways, have you ever wondered? It means: nature, in all its bounty. Every sentient being, from an insect to you and me. It means democracy and civilization, too. “The world” is a very, very big thing, but our consciousness is tiny and small. Our first real task this century is expanding our consciousness of it, to hold and see much, much more of it than wer’re currently capable of doing. Centuries of violence by the most predatory against everyone and everything else have left us all severely emotionally and cognitively and relationally stunted — unable to even really see “the world” at all.
What will definitely happen in my opinion: shifts in stories and social constructs. The manmade constructs.
We will see new stories getting adopted and old stories getting dropped.
So, what stories are falling apart right now in the world? In your world? What stories do you see growing?
What stories exist in the world? In your world? Where do they sit now? Are they collapsing or are they emerging?
I find this is a more useful frame to look at things & try to answer “what’s next?“
