Thread by @adetolaov

World War II led to creation of UN, IMF, World Bank & present world order. 2008 financial crisis changed financial regulation. 9/11 led to global war on terror,heightened government surveillance & tighter airport security.

My predictions on how #COVIDー19 will change the world:

The future of interaction is online. Instead of asking “why are we doing this online?”, the new question will be “why are we doing this in person?”. People will ask if meetings should simply have been emails. This is affect work, meeting, conferences, religious worship etc

Internet as a right. Government and individuals will start to see internet as a necessary infrastructure. Since outbreak started, schools & work have moved online. People without internet are at a disadvantage. Internet will become as important a right as healthcare and security.

Healthcare professionals will receive hazard benefits like military presently do. Governments will consider guaranteed healthcare plans, pension and hazard protection for healthcare. In a war against diseases, those putting their lives at risk are the healthcare professionals.

Domestic manufacturing will rise and several factories of the world. The notion of one factory of the world will come under scrutiny. Companies will focus on creating full domestic ways of manufacturing and supplying important local demands. Some governments will insist on it.

Expertise matters. In social matters and thanks to twitter and TV pundits, everyone can have an opinion, but pundits can’t fix an outbreak. Post the outbreak, the world will revert to the importance of experts over general commentators.

New economics of welfare. people will demand for things like guaranteed income, forgiving student debts, guaranteed education. Seeing how governments have spent on crisis, old economic arguments will not be enough to dissuade people. New rules for welfare will have to be written.

Public health-based global condemnation. In the same manner in which countries condemn countries for supporting terrorism, there will be international condemnation for countries who don’t decisively deal with diseases, work on biological weapons or refuse to exchange information.

Guaranteed income. A conversation on guaranteed income and other support incentives for young, vulnerable and poor people will take places in several countries.

Governments will be stronger . Multinational companies have their place, but the outbreak will remind the world on why governments matter and why governments can do some things that companies cannot. Some government may explore higher degrees of authoritarianism but it won’t last

Remote work & virtual meetings will leapfrog. Working remote will become as commonplace as people commuting to work. Companies will have to spend more on remote work tools, tracking assignments & data security as people start to work more from their comfort.

A reversal of the tide of nationalism & polarization. Last few years has seen the rise of nationalism and polarizing politics and a massive criticism of globalization. New common enemies will remind the world of why we work together and that diseases have no respect for borders.

Other areas in healthcare field, asides medicine will come to Centre stage. Medical researchers, microbiologists, virologists will gain as much acclaim as medical doctors. Next wave of professionals will flood this areas, in same way they flood tech now.

Governments will be more drastic with penalties for public health negligence and carelessness. Higher regulation of companies researching biological weapons. Stricter requirement on cleanliness,diseases prevention and sanitary measures on citizens.

Civic advocacy will rise. A lesson from this crisis is that government invested in weapons as against healthcare, and citizens allowed them to. Citizens will learn and demand the areas they want governments to focus on and will do it louder and more aggressive about it.

Medical services online. A rise of online diagnostic tools and doctors’ appointment through online tools. Higher acceptance of use of DNA research for predicting diseases people are susceptible to. This may even become an acceptable part of general medical check-ups.

DNA data for dealing with crimes. The outbreak will provide governments will a large haul of DNA data. This will lead to reopening and resolution of some old cases, and increase in regulations on DNA data.

The Digital services industry will explode. It will create a new category of personalised online services , e.g online concerts. People providing all kinds of service will resort to digital tools and content will drive this trend.

Government online. Governments will invest more in online services and an alternative to big government will be an online government. Legislature will potentially move online. People will not have to queue for government services but will simply use online portals.

Voting need not be in person. In more countries, electronic voting and other remote forms of voting will become the norm for elections.

Governments will become highly involved in medical and pharmaceutical industry, both regulations, production and even supplying medical needs and drugs. This is based on governments’ new view that diseases are as dangerous to society as insecurity.

Higher Investment in public goods. Some reversal of the brash effects of capitalism, and governments and societies will create new ways to invest in public healthcare, social security, public housing. Welfarism will also rise.

Patriotism to the global community. People will realize that the things that happen in far away places affect them, so people will take increased concerns in what is happening in other countries. The world will realize our fates are linked in ways we can’t imagine.

Rise in global cooperation and information exchange on medical research and disease control and prevention. Funding will also greatly increase in this area.

The Global Value Chain will be re-imagined. How products are made and move from one end of the world to another will be re-designed. Aim will be to avoid relying on only one focal place for all of the world’s supplies. Companies will focus on creating several global supply points

I’d like to hear other ways you think the world will change after the #COVIDー19 global pandemic.

Read the full version on medium ( link.medium.com/tDrZ3nTb44 ).