Yet the potential for long-term abuse here is so obvious.
It’s every debate we’ve had on surveillance, deplatforming, centralization — accelerated.
Pandemic means emergency powers for the state, even more than terrorism or crime.
My rough forecast of the future: the coronavirus results in quarantines, nationalism, centralization. And this may actually work to stop the spread.
But once under control, states will not cede their powers. So, we decentralize.
It is an enormous stimulus for portable diagnostics, wearables, mobile clinics, telemedicine, right-to-try laws, accelerated approvals.
For decentralizing medicine.
Looks like mechanism of digital quarantine for Wuhanese right now is the computerized ID system (NYT): nytimes.com/2020/02/03/bus…
But they may lean on WeChat soon as it’s already a tool of social control (BBC): bbc.com/news/blogs-chi…