Social ‘Jetlag’
murat ülker
The above titles do not belong to me. Last week, I shared a YouYube video from the 2020 World Economic Forum, in which Klaus Schwap and Thierry Malleret, the authors of the book “Covid19: The Great Reset“, also participated as speakers, then, I gave a long summary of what was spoken, adding my own views. Many of my followers asked for a summary of the book as soon as possible. Upon request, this week I’ve summarized the book incorporating my views as well. The aforementioned titles are from sentences in the book. Actually a summary of the book. The authors describe their basic scenarios about what awaits the world after Covid-19 in three main chapters as macro, micro, and the individual. It is evident throughout history that many of the devastating consequences of epidemics are not related to the epidemic itself, but other social problems caused by the epidemic. What should be seen here is that the social and economic problems that an epidemic of this size will create and cause are much more important than the emergence of the epidemic.
This time, I will make a change and give the results from the book first. Then I will include the opinions that are the source of the result. A summary of the conclusion is as follows:
After the start of the pandemic, the world today is in a different place. In this short span of time, COVID-19 has both triggered significant changes and widened the fault lines that already encompass our economies and societies. Rising inequalities, a widespread sense of injustice, deepening geopolitical divisions, political polarization, rising public deficits, and high debt levels, ineffective or non-existent global governance, excessive financialization, environmental degradation! These are some of the main challenges that existed before, and the Corona crisis has exacerbated them all. If we do not do something to reset today’s world, we will be deeply shaken tomorrow. Failure to rid or correct the deep-rooted diseases of our societies and economies can increase the risks, as it has throughout the history. Ultimately, a “reset” may spontaneously occur by violent shocks such as conflicts or even revolutions. The pandemic gives us a rare but narrow window of opportunity to rethink, design, and reset our world.
This is about making the world less polluted, less discriminatory, less destructive, rather cleaner, more inclusive, fairer, and more equitable than we left it in the pre-pandemic era; it is not sleepwalking through growing social inequalities, economic imbalances, injustice, and environmental degradation. Failure to act would mean or allow life to become crueler, more divided, more dangerous, more selfish, and ultimately intolerable for large segments of the world’s population. Some, frightened by the scale of the task, resist rather than agree, hoping that the emergency will soon disappear or diminish and that we will eventually return to “normalcy.” The argument of passives is as follows; we have had similar shocks before and we will overcome them again. As always, our societies and economies will be rebuilt. Life goes on!
The world situation today is indeed on average significantly better than in the past. We have to admit that we, as humans, have never lived in such good condition. Almost all key indicators measuring our collective well-being (such as the number of people living in poverty or dying in conflict, national income per capita, life expectancy or literacy rates, and even the number of deaths caused by pandemics, etc.) are constantly improving. But to say they are developing “on average” is a meaningless statistical reality for those who feel excluded and even for those who are often excluded. It means billions of people with today’s world population. Therefore, the belief that today’s world is better than ever, although true to most of us, cannot be an excuse to not to rectify the situation and not to relieve the inconvenience of influential elements.
Two key points about the Great Reset:
1) Our human actions and responses are not based on statistical data, but rather are determined by emotions and feelings; narratives guide our behavior.
2) As we develop as human beings and our standard of living increases, our expectations of a better and fairer life increase.
We are now at a crossroads. The first path we choose will take us to a better, we are more inclusive, more fair and respectful to each other and nature; the other is to a world that reminds us of the world we lived in in the past but is filled with worse and constantly bad surprises. Therefore, we must choose the right one. Achieving the opportunities that appear before us may be more difficult than we had hoped, but let’s hope our ability to reset (The Great Reset) is also greater than we had hoped for.
Yes, we are at a turning point, but we have not passed this milestone yet. Therefore, it is still difficult to see what is in front of us. Extreme environmental emphasis; it is difficult to understand whether it is part of the movement of environmentalists to insist on what they want when they have the opportunity or if it is a real need of the world. The environment should not be destroyed, but human beings cannot go back to the past and survive under the conditions of the first humans, this must be understood well.
The authors first explain the three main contexts of the MACRO RESET rationale. They say that interdependence, velocity, and complexity are great reasons to start over. Here is a summary of the three contexts:
Interdependence: Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore says, “7 billion people living on planet earth no longer live in more than a hundred separate boats (countries). Instead, they all live in 193 separate cabins in the same boat. Therefore, it is necessary not to look at the issues based on contagion, but to include all other pandemic risks. (Figure 1)
Speed (Velocity): There is a surprising increase in speed, and if only one thing were chosen to explain this increase, it would undoubtedly be the internet. The world, even the moon is now online, and smartphones are everywhere. The Internet of Things (IoT) now connects 22 billion devices in real-time, from cars to hospital beds, power grids, and water station pumps to kitchen ovens and agricultural irrigation systems. This figure is expected to reach 50 billion by 2030. We are heading towards a “Dictatorship of Urgency” that everyone demands so that everything they want happens instantly. After all, the shelf life of an approach, a product, or an idea, the life cycle of a decision-maker, or a project is decreasing sharply and often at an unpredictable rate. At the global level, COVID-19 took three months to reach 100,000, 12 days to reach 200,000, four days to reach 300,000, then 400,000 and 500,000 cases in two days. So the number of cases increased exponentially. The same tends to happen for large systemic changes and disruptions in general: things tend to change first gradually and then all at once. Wait for the macro reset as well. For example, impatience, voters expect immediate results from the implementation of the policies of the elected people and are disappointed when they do not arrive fast enough. For this reason, when politicians and administrators do not take into account the expectations of the people within their bureaucracy, they may face bad and unexpected results.
Complexity: In the simplest possible form, complexity can be defined as what we do not understand or have difficulty understanding. In such a pandemic, it is not known which variable is effective on which economic element or how it is related to other factors. Organizations such as the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations established at the 2017 Davos meeting, and Bill Gates have been warning us about the “epidemic potential”. These people have been stating the following about pandemic risk for years: 1) It will emerge with wildlife in a highly populated place where economic development is forcing people. 2) It will spread quickly and silently using human travel and trade networks 3) The virus can reach multiple countries due to the inability of the virus to be confined to one area. And all this happened. Many Asian countries have reacted quickly to epidemics (for example SARS) they had experienced before, and they easily survived this epidemic. On the contrary, many Western countries were unprepared for such an epidemic.
Figure 1 really illustrates the map of the linkage of risks in the world in a clear way. Speed Interdependence and Complexity, of course, are not just the effects of Covid19. These effects began long ago and have accelerated with the advent of the Internet. The perceived risk of disease, fear, and anxiety, not the real risk, changed people’s behavior and made these three phenomena visible. Even now, no one can know for sure whether these three phenomena will return to their previous states when the perceived risk disappears, in other words, whether the need to reset will disappear.
Later, the authors explain the necessity of ECONOMIC RESETTING with examples: “In all past epidemics in the history of the world, labor has gained strength against capital. Given the fragile economic nature of the changing, integrating and complexing systems, the consequences of this epidemic are likely to be more devastating than any previous epidemic crisis”. They then elaborate and emphasize the need for a reset in key economic variables.
Uncertainty: The high degree of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 makes it incredibly difficult to fully assess the risk it poses. If there is a larger wave following the first wave, i.e. the scenario of one or more high aftershocks in the third or fourth quarter of 2020, and smaller successive waves in 2021 (such as the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918-1919), the health system goes bankrupt. In a decreasing trend, an unpredictable small Covid-19 outbreak occurs; since decreases and increases are situational and regional, we speak of a virus that has integrated into society.
It is an economic misconception that several lives can be sacrificed for the continuation of growth: There have been thousands of debates over “saving lives instead of saving the economy” during the pandemic. Governments must do and spend whatever it takes for our health and collective wealth for the sustainable recovery of the economy.
Growth and Employment: The length and severity of the recession period and its subsequent impact on growth and employment depends on three things: 1) The duration and severity of the outbreak 2) Each country’s success in containing and mitigating the outbreak, and 3) The consistency of every society when dealing with post-quarantine measures and various opening strategies. However, these three issues are not known. In addition, the occurrence of large or small new epidemic waves makes this consistency difficult to achieve.
Economic growth: The service sector, which represents the largest component of economic activity in any developed market, was the most affected sector by the pandemic. Companies and events in various industries such as travel, hospitality, retail or sports will face the following triple problem: 1) There will be fewer customers 2) Consumers will spend less on average 3) Operation costs will be higher. There is no data available yet on what the consequences of the national income reduction might be.
Employment: The size and severity of an economy depend on the unemployment of a country. Every nation is affected differently depending on its economic structure. Many companies continued to employ people working remotely. Many companies worrying about sustainability during the pandemic process prefer machines to people. Low-income workers in routine jobs (such as production, food, and transportation) are the most likely to be affected. Considering that many young people start their jobs in these fields, it appears as unemployment for these young people.
What future growth might look like: In the post-pandemic period, it may take years or even decades for a normal national income to emerge when compared to the past. It is up to people to use the post-Covid19 period well and efficiently. In fact, this is a new path to a fairer, greener future through institutional changes and policy choices. This path raises two questions: 1) What should be the new direction of the compass to track progress? 2) Who and what will be the new drivers as we move in the new direction?
The possibility of an inclusive and sustainable economy: The enrichment of people does not bring many elements that provide prosperity, this is proven. After the pandemic, the green economy can come into play, encompassing a range of possibilities, from green energy to ecotourism and circular economy. Innovation in production, distribution, and business models can lead to new jobs and economic prosperity by creating new or better products that create productivity gains and higher added value. Thus, governments will have tools in their hands to create new sustainable policies and to produce more humane public policies in the post-pandemic life.
Fiscal and monetary policies: The fiscal and monetary policy response to the epidemic was decisive, large-scale, and rapid. Most governments initiated ambitious and unprecedented fiscal policy interventions in each sector. These types of interventions seem to continue even when the situation improves. One of the biggest concerns is that a recession as a result of uncontrolled inflation may arise. Central banks may decide that there is nothing to worry about. However, banks should define a cap at which inflation becomes devastating.
The Fate of the US Dollar: For decades, the US has enjoyed the privilege of holding its global currency reserve. This status has long been “an imperial power and an economic elixir”. The USA has exploited this position to the point of abuse. Developing and poor countries are no longer able to repay their debt, usually in dollars. Should the dollar not be that strong anymore? This confidence in the dollar will decline over time, eventually becoming the reserve currency of only a few countries.
I also agree that the results of the fiscal and monetary policies implemented will lead to devastating inflation. The understanding of the social state and especially the health investments of the states will change according to the expectations of their citizens and will be an important material of the election campaigns.
The next subject detailed by the authors is SOCIAL RESETTING: The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of health and living conditions in many countries known as wealthy. Developing and poor countries, on the other hand, suffered an economic defeat. Consequently, all countries in one way or another have succumbed to this struggle. Successful countries:
· They were ready for the future (logistically and organizationally).
· They made fast and accurate decisions.
· They have a cost-effective and inclusive healthcare system.
· Societies with high confidence to the leader and the information provided.
· They prefer to demonstrate a true sense of solidarity, a common good over individual benefit.
Apart from technical ones, inclusiveness, solidarity and trust are community characteristics that are powerful determinants of success in containing an epidemic.
Inequalities: COVID-19 has exacerbated the pre-existing conditions of inequality wherever and whenever it occurs. The pandemic actually dominated “inequality”. It is impossible to ignore the plight of low-income people among people belonging to different social classes. Most evidence shows that inequalities are likely to increase, at least in the short term.
Social unrest: One of the greatest dangers facing the post-pandemic era is social unrest. In some extreme cases, social disintergration and political collapse are expected.
A return to the ‘big’ government: The pandemic process has shown that surrendering the country’s prosperity to companies does not provide benefit socially. It was also understood that the governments have not just stood there as a scarecrow. The conditions and positions of these beings were re-evaluated in order to improve social systems, make life livable and social improvement.
Social contracts: It is almost inevitable that the pandemic will prompt many societies around the world to reconsider and redefine the terms of their social contracts (constitution).
Yes, welfare should be considered as a whole, but something that emerges in this crisis is that companies to be more for prepared for the crises should be supported by governments and the number of crisesresistant large companies should be increased by paving the way for healthy growth. Otherwise, it was seen in this crisis that even giants could not respond to the needs of the crisis environment with their production facilities.
The next topic addressed is regarding a GEOPOLITICAL RESET: The connection between geopolitics and the pandemic is two-ways. On one hand, the chaotic end of multilateralism, the global governance vacuum, and the rise of various forms of nationalism make the epidemic more difficult to cope with. The coronavirus is spreading globally and it doesn’t pass anyone by. All countries are in this pit. However, with geopolitical fault lines simultaneously dividing societies, as a result of many leaders focusing on national responses, collective activity is constrained and capability is diminished. On the other hand, geopolitical trends that clearly intensified and accelerated in the epidemic were already there before the crisis broke out. Increasing nationalism and anti-globalization emerged with inward-looking economies.
The replacement of the conventional, Western-centered social structure to a multi-polar world order has forced many concepts to be reconsidered. For example, how can the US administration accept that 97% of the antibiotics supplied in the country come from China? The lack of continuity at the end of globalization lies in the solution of regionalization. In the next few years, we should expect the tensions between the forces of nationalism and openness to occur in three critical dimensions: 1) Global institutions, 2) Trade 3) Capital Flow.
Global institutions and international organizations like the World Trade Organization or WHO weakened. Countries are increasingly willing to produce their own trade barriers and restrict capital flows. Every country has a desire to master its own technology. This leads to an increasingly more centrist production and ultimately supports nationalism and global antagonism. This situation seems to become much more dominant in a post-pandemic period.
Global Governance: Unfortunately, we are at a critical point here right now. Nations, just like humans, need rights and freedoms, norms, and rules. However, this state of the world we live in is the rule of irregularities. Global coordination is required.
Growing competition between China and the USA: After what has happened between the two countries, an environment has been created which has forced countries to stay at some point between China and the USA. This is a war without a winner, so 3 different situations stand out. China wins, the US wins or no winner. However, it should be understood that this does not matter in all three cases.
Fragile and Failed States: The fragile structures of some states are one of the biggest problems in the global world. Especially when a global problem such as a pandemic occurs, fragile state structures are closer to failure and collapse by not being able to cope with the problems. The essence of their vulnerability is the insufficient capacity of the state and its inability to provide its basic function, the deficiencies of basic public services, and security weaknesses. This results in their inability to deal with the virus. Although this situation seems to be an internal problem of a country, it is obvious that the billing of the problem will be paid by the whole world. It will eventually resonate in greater instability and even chaos. The most vulnerable and poor societies with economic misery, discontent and, hunger will create a new wave of mass migration within themselves.
As I mentioned in my previous article, it is very difficult for fragile and unsuccessful states to solve these three issues: 1) They should built confidence; transparency is required, corruption, bribery, the use of public resources for personal benefit should be history. 2)Solve their structural problems; accommodate oneself to circumstances should be the basic principle. 3) They should be flexible; rapid solutions should be produced according to human, market and company needs. Otherwise, they will continue to be a threat among the countries of the world as a weak link and create problems for their citizens.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESET: Nature’s relationship with Covid-19 is much higher than we assume. Infectious diseases, climate change, and environmental problems arise entirely as a result of this nature/human interaction. The five main features shared at this point are:
Diseases spread from nature and animals: Zoonotic diseases are diseases that spread from animals. Most experts and conservationists agree that it has increased substantially in recent years, especially due to deforestation (a phenomenon associated with an increase in carbon dioxide emissions), which increases the close interaction between humans and animals and the risk of contamination.
Air pollution and epidemic risk: It has been known for years that air pollution caused by emissions that contribute to global warming is a silent killer that causes various health problems such as COPD, diabetes, alzheimer, cancer, etc. Air pollution increases the rate of people catching chronic and metabolic diseases and reduces the resistance and worsens the condition in diseases that affect the lung such as SARS, COVID, and MERS due to the damage it causes to the lungs.
Quarantine and Carbon Emissions: The elimination of carbon emissions created by the actions people take in their daily life is one of the positive effects of the pandemic process on nature. However, this is not enough, alternative energy methods should be used (abandoning fossil fuels) and consumption habits should be changed. Electric cars and renewable energy can all herald a good future for us.
Climate change and other environmental policies: The pandemic will affect the political sphere for years. It can overshadow a serious risk such as environmental concern. It is unclear how much importance countries will give to the environment after the pandemic. Three primary reasons may explain why this is uncertain and why focus on the environment may decline as the pandemic risk begins to decline:
1. Governments may decide that sustaining growth “at all costs” is in the best collective interest to mitigate the impact on unemployment.
2. Sustainability in general and climate concerns, in particular, will become secondary, as companies will be under pressure to increase their revenues.
3. Continuing low oil prices can encourage both consumers and businesses to use even more carbon-intensive energy.
These three reasons can convince opponents of a green economy, but there are other reasons to turn the trend in the opposite direction. Especially the following four reasons can help make the world cleaner and more sustainable: 1- Enlightened leadership 2- Risk Awareness 3- Behavior Change 4- Activism.
As I mentioned above, if we take environmentalism and green economy beyond a necessity and turn it into a biased ideology, the resulting picture may hamper human development. There is a very delicate thin line in this regard, one should not cross that line and threaten human freedom and welfare.
TECHNOLOGICAL RESET: Technological progress has been done so at an impressive speed. Artificial intelligence is everywhere now, from drones and voice recognition systems to virtual assistants. However, this situation brings with it some difficulties. The most important of these: privacy. The excessive interconnectedness of digital networks is a structure that reminds people that they are constantly being watched with the developing technology. With the epidemic “digital transformation” found its catalyst. All business areas started to take place in digital. During the quarantine, many consumers who were previously extremely reluctant to rely on digital apps and services were forced to change their habits almost overnight: watching movies online instead of going to the movies, ordering meal delivery instead of going to restaurants, talking to friends remotely instead of meeting in the flesh, talking to colleagues remotely instead of chit-chatting at the coffee machine. It’s like talking on a screen instead of chatting in front of you and exercising online instead of the gym. So almost instantly, most things became “e-things”: e-learning, e-commerce, e-gaming, e-books, e-attendance. After the pandemic, some of the old habits will most likely return (the joy and pleasure of personal contacts can’t be matched – we are social animals, after all! However, we are now part of a new social life. Now, humans are “digitally social animals”. After the pandemic companies incorporate digital platforms that they can experience more intensely into their lives. They integrate remote work systems, or join different remote work, video chat and sharing systems.
Thanks to covid19, we are taking part in a major digitalization pilot study all over the world. We try and take advantage of everything. No one knows, how many of what we are experiencing now will become permanent behaviour before the risk is over. But let me tell you how many days have passed since the last Izmir earthquake. Is there one earthquake expert, one “How do you understand the damage to buildings” news left on the screen? One characteristic of man is the ability to quickly forget everything.
MICRO RESETTING, BUSINESS WORLD: A few sectors need to take advantage of the backwind to survive. The technology, health, and wellness sectors are the sectors that will grow. The journey will be difficult. We know that. Micro-Trends: It will be the responsibility of each company to make the most of the new trends. Businesses that prove to be agile and flexible will emerge stronger. Acceleration of Digitization: Businesses already operating online have gained a permanent competitive advantage. It is no coincidence that companies such as Alibaba, Amazon, Netflix, or Zoom emerged from quarantine as “winners”.
Flexible Supply Chain: The pandemic ended the principle that companies must optimize their supply chains based on a single source of supply. This means that flexibility is preferred. In the post-pandemic era, “end-to-end value optimization”, a supply chain idea that includes both durability, efficiency, and cost advantage, will be valid. In other words, the “just-in-case” method will replace the “just-in-time” method, which means keeping the stock simultaneously with the production.
Governments and corporations: During and after this difficult process, governments should stay at the same distance from all companies, small and large, and work on protecting employee rights. In addition, governments should provide additional support for companies’ continuity and adjust their economies accordingly. Whether or not Stakeholder Capitalism and Environment, Sustainability and Governance, in short, ESG are explicitly adopted, no one can deny that the main purpose of companies is not to pursue financial profit but to serve all stakeholders. The crisis will have created and strengthened an acute sense of responsibility in many issues related to ESG strategies. After the pandemic, Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG will be fully integrated and internalized into a company’s basic strategy and management in the boardrooms of companies. It will also change the way investors evaluate corporate governance.
SECTOR RESET: Sectors with social interaction at their core were the most affected by the pandemic. Among them are travel and tourism, sports, activities, and leisure, which create a very significant proportion of total economic activity and employment. However, all these sectors are jobs where social distancing cannot be achieved easily, requiring proximity and contact. People working in such jobs will be in a difficult situation due to these industries that are closed during the quarantine. A few consumption patterns, albeit at a different pace, may revert to their previous lines in the long run, as in air travel after 9/11. Others, like online services, will undoubtedly speed up. Some may be delayed (such as buying a car), while more environmentally friendly, new, permanent consumption patterns may emerge. People are generally open to shopping online, for items such as household goods and groceries that are heavy and difficult to carry. However, in some areas that require one-to-one vision, such a comfortable change may not be experienced. Online shopping will increase. Just one change, spending more time at home is the beginning of everything. If the economy continues like this, many companies will not be able to continue their operations and will have to shut down. When the gap caused by this closure reaches a size that can no longer be rectified by working at home, landlords or real estate agents will have difficulty renting vacant offices. House prices and wages will fall, falling purchasing power will make prices relatively expensive, and all this will cause a chain economic reaction. Being resilient, which means “the ability to be successful in difficult conditions”, will be an indispensable feature of us, a “must-have”! For those as fortunate as those who found themselves in industries “naturally” resistant to the epidemic, the crisis was not only bearable but a profitable source of opportunity in a troubled time. In the post-pandemic period, three sectors will develop to a great extent. These are big technology, health, and wellness sectors. On the other hand, the banking, insurance, and automotive industries are three different examples of industries that have to be more resilient to get out of the deep and prolonged recession caused by the health crisis.
The first rule of adapting to new conditions is to be an agile company. I agree with this. But that doesn’t mean being fast. Most people think of being agile as being fast, but it’s not. Agility is the ability to solve a problem where small teams are formed. Agility is really about putting the consumer first and focusing on delivering more value faster than the competitors, meeting the unmet needs of a customer before anyone else. And it’s not about one person being agile, but the whole company being agile. If companies can manage to be agile companies, they first survive and then get stronger with micro resetting.
INDIVIDUAL RESET: We are all reminded of our innate human vulnerability, weaknesses and flaws. This awareness, coupled with the stress of the quarantine and the deep sense of uncertainty about what will happen at the same time, can change the way we relate to other people and the world, even internally. For some people what started as a macro change may end on an individual level. Psychologists point out that, like most transformative events, the epidemic has the ability to bring out the best and the worst within us. It’s as if humanity is being redefined. Numerous examples have shown that people are not only spending more time with each other but are behaving better towards each other as well. As the pandemic has progressed, the tabloid appeal of “rich poets and celebrities” has dwindled. In such a situation, we seek leadership, authority, and clarity, so the question of whom we trust becomes critical. It is clear that these are not celebrities, so who should we choose in times like this? Our commitment to those close to us is strengthened, to our family and friends. However, there is another side to this; it triggers an unsettling rise in patriotic and nationalist feelings and religious and ethnic considerations which also come into play. While the pandemic strained us physically and mentally, it has also helped us to get to know ourselves on many issues morally. Morally, was it correct to lie to the public for their good, or to tell the truth to the public no matter what? Should this be based on human life or national income? Is it one for all or all for one?
Mental illness has been prevalent in most of the world for years. The pandemic has made this situation worse and this will continue. Most psychologists seem to agree that the pandemic has had a devastating effect on mental health. The main problem is the post-traumatic syndrome that will occur after the pandemic. There is no data about what kind of mental health people who have experienced quarantine, lost loved ones, gotten sick, lost their job or income, will have in the future.
In this process, many of the pre-pandemic needs of people have changed. The list of priorities no longer consists of the social needs of people trying to continue their ordinary lives. In this process, many of us have become more interested in creative arts than ever before, we’ve acquired new hobbies and handcrafts, and our creativity has increased. Many of us have noticed the aspects we have neglected until the present day. Many of us have found practical ways to overcome our difficulties and have had the patience to cope with difficult times thanks to our creativity each time.
The pandemic process has changed our perception of time in ways we never expected. People complain that the concepts of day and night have changed. Many people sleep and awaken in unfamiliar times. The way we perceive the days and times has changed. There were times when people’s days were mixed up and time never flowed. We have no idea how this process will reflect on the post-pandemic time. However, it is obvious that most of us will have difficulties in the coming days. It is as if we are living and will live a social “jetlag”.
Our changing consumption habits during the pandemic have caused us to spend less and consume less. Many of us have tried to be prepared for new scenarios by cutting unnecessary expenses. Many of us have given up unnecessary expenses. We spent more sparingly and carefully. Our work for the future is based on savings. As a result, our purchases focused on time-wasting items such as necessities such as housing, nutrition, and hobby supplies. Our book and magazine purchases have increased. We focused on “do it yourselves” products instead of ready-made products, and we were much more price-oriented than usual. Some people cared about making or repairing instead of buying. Although some people took the path of increasing their morale with luxury consumption expenditures by evaluating the falling prices in this process, our expenditures decreased as in a typical crisis environment.
In this period, as aforementioned, we do our best to be good and healthy as humans. Most of us are focused on creating a healthy body and immune system, the conscious ones are trying to keep their weight in balance with sports and exercise during the quarantine. However, it is a fact that when we stay away from active life, we gain weight. People are trying different techniques to heal and strengthen both their lives and bodies.
Obviously, when we come to the present day, everything that was written in the Covid19 The Great Reset book remains unclear. All default effects may or may not happen. Because the disease itself, its transmission, its recovery, and its spread still contain a great deal of uncertainty. Noone says it remains on surfaces anymore, even the emphasis on hand washing has decreased. Have we ever been able to understand which flu we got from where and from whom? Therefore, finding a drug or a vaccine will be the solution to all problems. But there is no proof that a complete result will be obtained by vaccination. I know that as long as this uncertainty continues, economic, social, and individual problems will continue to increase. However, the fact that these problems have been experienced like this or to an even more severe degree, even if we write such 200-page scenarios, even if we make comments regarding them, will it bring about a big reset (THE GREAT RESET), will such a restructuring be with a wave from the bottom, and if there is no wave from the bottom, will a reset happen, and what the preference of people will be, I do not know. Another thing I know is that, regardless of class, humans are fond of human comfort, with strong egoistic feelings of nostalgia. Unless humans educate themselves on desires.
Note: Those who want to read the report of a working group formed on the application of what was written in Covid19: The Great Reset to future business life can be read at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_NES_Resetting_FOW_Agenda_2020.pdf. Human is now a digital social animal.
Note: This article is open source and can be cited by mentioning the author. Does not require copyright.