During the current (or impending) lockdown, many jobs will, and have already, vanished overnight. Stock market losses reflect a concern for just how big a change in consumption this could bring. Hong Kong already approved a kind of emergency UBI, giving each citizen 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $1,290) and similar proposals of granting monthly cash to all citizens are discussed and supported in many other countries too.

Universal basic income

The internet was built to be resilient in times of crisis. Over time, however, a small number of companies have come to own a large number of the servers directing traffic. This undercuts the internet’s celebrated design feature of decentralization. The Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is a new protocol we could adopt to make the internet properly peer-to-peer again—meaning, it might give us an internet more equipped for a crisis.

Decentralized internet protocols

Blackouts and snow-ins result in baby bumps: this has been commonly observed. Maybe you might look forward to some lustful pleasures during the quarantine. Or maybe in times of despair, the prospect of bringing a new life into the world is a bulwark against the sense of impending doom.

Increase of birth rate

From the existential motives of serious filmmakers to the escapist hedonism and meme extraordinaires—a pandemic, in all its brutality, can be quite the muse. The same is true for a myriad of artists, currently in lockdown, many of them likely creating their most inspired pieces yet.

Finding inspiration duiring the pandemic

In the 2020 pandemic we’ve found a common enemy, attacking people regardless of their appearance or passport. We can use this shared event as the founding moment of a unifying global narrative - underneath our badges of belonging we are all vulnerable bodies, very much dependent on each other and on systems of governance.

A shared enemy

We now have a strong example of how arbitrary the choices that leaders make can be. People have already died because a certain leader took the wrong approach at the wrong time. So we should demand that more than success at the polls or holding an office be treated as sufficient authority in questions where there is science to consider.

Never blindly trust a leader

Social distancing is luckily happening in a time when we already love to be social far, far away from one another. The meetings that could have been emails have quickly turned into emails. For the rest, there’s telepresence, video conferencing, and even digital avatars and virtual stages. The longer the quarantine, the more we’ll see whatever brings us our loved ones and colleagues in high definition as the best thing since stock crackers.

Telepresence

Drone have been known so far mostly for their surveillance potential. Now that the ability to get goods without human touch is a more appealing value proposition than ever. During the pandemic however, we could use them to deliver all sorts of products (food, medicine) to the doors of any self- or forcefully quarantined person.

Adoption of drone technology

<ul>
<li>People homeschooling their children are expressing new appreciation for teachers’ day-to-day.</li>
<li>Garbage collectors and delivery people are receiving proper thank-yous for usually thankless services. </li>
<li>Health care providers risking their own health for the sake of others are now receiving a measure of gratitude. This appreciation should do beyond gratitude and applause into a monetary for - better pay for our most crucial services.</li>
</ul>

Paying our heroes

Doing less has its perks, for the climate and the environment as a whole, as well as for our stress levels and peace of mind. Hitting the pause button will give us from now an opportunity to take stock of what really deserves the glory in our glorification of being “busy.”

Doing less

Intergenerational solidarity could become more of a thing as we come to fully realize that an able-bodied condition is ever so temporary. Healthspan—and lifespan—extension is a problem we might more seriously use our collective talent to combat, as we give more weight to the argument often put forward by those in the field that aging ought to be classified as a disease.

Longevity reimagined

A lot of time in your house means a lot of time to learn and organize for change with people who share your beliefs and could amplify them. Whether in relation to debt, or something else.

Collective belief

The current pandemic will make many of us see the benefits of relying on locally sourced food and goods—instead of products demanding long and distant supply chains. Self-sufficiency is power - instead of just crossing your fingers and hoping government leaders will do a good enough job protecting you, you can maintain some influence over your own destiny and that of your loved ones.

Benefits of self-sufficiency

The current pandemic is bad, but it could be worse, and we can get far better at preparing and de-risking our lives. The words “hope for the best, plan for the worst” are beginning to more widely resonate.

Planning for the worst

Accuracy matters. We want to know the facts. Not guess, but know. And even though doubt in science has grown ever greater in recent years, you don’t see hordes of people turning down the thought of a vaccine now.

The need to know

The current pandemic hasn't had as consequence a power outage yet, but there is this risk, in certain places. Solar panels mark the move away from a more or less centralized system supplying electricity. The benefit of decentralized systems is, simply put, that they don’t have central points of failure (and a way to do the right thing for the planet).

Adoption of solar panels

Crisis. A situation where danger and opportunity intersect. In the last several weeks, we've heard and learned a lot about the danger and suffering caused by Covid-19. But opportunities are here too, and not only for soap producers and bitcoin holders.