Tuesday, April 7, 2020

A World-Changing Pandemic?

Yesterday, I suggested, slightly facetiously, that if everything believes that the current pandemic is going to change the world, the odds are: it will not.

Today, Niall Ferguson responds to a list of supposedly pending changes... succinctly and, doubtlessly, correctly.


Most succinct statement I've yet seen of the "massive enduring social and economic change post-pandemic" hypothesis. I'd be more persuaded if there were evidence of comparable changes after the (much more lethal) 1918-19 influenza pandemic.
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Balaji S. Srinivasan
@balajis
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The 20th century is ending. - Offices ⭢ remote work - NFL, NBA ⭢ esports - Movie theaters ⭢ streaming - TV news ⭢ YouTube stars - College ⭢ ISAs, MOOCs - K-12 ⭢ internet homeschooling - Corporate journalism ⭢ citizen journalism - EU/EEC ⭢ 27 sovereign states

2 comments:

David Foster said...

He left out Stores>>Home Delivery.

Important that none of these trends will be absolute. For example, Offices>>Remote Work...I have a lot of experience in new-business initiatives, both in existing corporations and in startups, and there really is a lot of advantage in the in-person human interaction. Some of these never would have gotten started in the first place unless such interaction had taken place.

And, of course, there are a lot of things that can't be done at home, including most manufacturing and all construction work. Ditto transportation.

Sam L. said...

I don't understand the use of the black bubbles. Background and information, please.