It really is amazing what we’re experiencing now with these drastic measures taken in the pursuit of social distancing in order to slow the spread of the contagion.
It’s something that seems to be accelerating a trend that we’ve already been moving towards.
Not to say that people are just going to stop gathering.
It’s never going to be total like that.
But there’s been less and less need to ever contact other humans, because we can do more and more things through electronic communication from a distance.
And now, with this extra force, the fear of the virus, leading us to push this even farther, this is accelerating the movement in this direction, so that we are now racing to find ways to accelerate social distancing, to find any way possible to work online, get things done online, shop online, everything finding a way to avoid connecting with another human in order to do it.
So it seems to me like this is really the most interesting thing that is coming out of this situation.
It’s not the virus itself.
That will be- that’s a serious issue for those affected, and I don’t mean to downplay the severity of the infection itself, but for the overall effect on most people, it will not be the virus itself that has the greatest effect, but the reaction to it.
As with so many things, it’s the reaction to something that really often has the biggest effects, far more than the original stimulus, the original cause that led to those reactions.
So in this case, we are seeing a glimpse of a world, we’re starting to move into this hint of a world without real-life contact, a world even more behind electronic communication.
It’s really quite amazing when you think about all these completely reasonable pronouncements and prescriptions, that if we didn’t know it was in order to contain a virus it really would be seen as this strange dystopian scenario, where they say, you know, “Maintain 2 meters distance.
You must not get closer than 2 meters from other humans.
If you can find a way to not interact with other humans in person, so much the better.
So please just avoid each other.
Please be alone.
Please be isolated.” All perfectly reasonable in terms of slowing the transmission of a pathogen, but at the same time, it really is quite incredible the direction that this is going.
So I’m very curious to see what will happen.
Somehow, we are stepping into a way of being, we are getting a taste of a way of being, that may be in some ways on its way.
Now, of course concerts, gatherings, assemblies, conferences, those are not going to stop.
But this idea that we can do more and more online is only increasing.
And I think with this situation, because many people will, as an emergency measure, start to do things online-only that they before did in person, this is only going to accelerate this movement away from in-person interaction.
So, while this is a health concern, it seems completely reasonable, but also seems to me like it will be important to return, after this has passed, after it has peaked, it will be time to return to human interaction.
And maybe, as another consequence of this, we might realize, we might see the downside of so much isolation.
Imagine these people that are self-isolating, have no human contact for two weeks, maybe that will lead to some kind of a rediscovery of the value of real human interaction.
Or, on the other hand, maybe many people will simply realize how convenient it is to do everything electronically.
So it seems like this one could go either way.
But it certainly is an unprecedented social experiment that is now ongoing.
So I’d be curious to hear how it’s going for you, and what you’re doing in this situation.
#isolation #socialdistancing #dystopia