Committee to save the world.
The Great Reset
Social norms, lack of fairness, no cooperation, and failure of global leadership are now exposed as never before, and people feel it’s time for reinventions. Many things will change forever. Probably more industries and businesses will not be spared from the impact of these changes. The intensity of transformations will grant technology full access to our lives. Millions of companies might disappear and some might have an uncertain future; a few might thrive as well. Probably our beliefs and assumptions about what the world could or should look like will be shattered in the process. But let’s not go into radical thinking and pronouncements. Not a black-and-white great reset and also not everything could be changed. What we know and have seen in the past years is that won’t be linear and halts will prevail.
The Great Reset theory has been around us for centuries. From John Ruskin to Cecil Rhodes. It comes in a few forms but basically, all debt is forgiven and the economy starts over again from square one. It was relaunched by the World Economic Forum in 2020. It points out some “fairer outcomes” and a rethinking of global investment and government expenditure for the revival of the world’s economy after the pandemic. Therefore we need to know that our mindset about the economy was or is wrong and we have a very narrow window of time to stave off the next big thing — environmental disaster. (Even if the medium on saving the Earth is not very academic and the only influencer Greta Thunberg was arrested.) However, we must beware of superficial analogies and conspiracy fallacies. This means not taking anything from everybody’s right to free speech to everyone’s property or locking people in concentration camps. This is absurd. What was at first only a little conspiracy now has become a disinformation tool in itself growing day by day. It gained so much traction because right wings militias consider it as proof of a plot to erode freedoms and capitalism. Wrong!
Alright, it might provoke changes that would have seemed inconceivable in the past but not the ones that will destroy the status of democracy. The Great Reset sees us on the same boat connected in which all risks affect each other through a web of complex relationships. Of course, we can think that economic risks could turn into political ones and technological risks into societal ones. We cannot predict accurately how it might go. Isolation or containment cannot play well with interconnectedness. Compared to the past, the economy now differs radically. Therefore, must the economy die so that it could be resurrected in robust terms? We can only make some iterations.
It is easy to spread conspiracies because we humans find it much easier to visualize what is disappearing than what is coming. If we collectively recognize that, beyond a certain level of wealth happiness depends more on intangible factors such as healthcare than on material consumption, then values such as environmental respect, responsible eating, empathy, or generosity may progressively come to characterize the new social norms. Governments have the tools at their disposal to make the shift towards these new norms and to more inclusive prosperity with sustainability as its core. We even have an open letter from 1.100 experts around the world sent to World Economic Forum to lead the economy to a future where we can live better with less.
Are there any systemic lessons to be learned?
Kindly the increasing role of governments and the redefinition of social contracts. Also will force us to recognize and acknowledge the severity of the inequality and shocking disparities around the globe. When acute crises hit us they contribute to boosting the power of the state among citizens. There is currently growing concerned that all of this will lead to the creation of permanent surveillance societies. Now, this new generation (Gen Z) is entering a system that it’s failing so their desire will be for radical changes. We can see that youth activism has been increased and revolutionized by social media. They will be the vanguard of social change. There is no time to waste. This last generation was born in debt. So the next one should not be. This is a major worry because is still no “committee to save the world”. Predicting is a guessing game for fools because this is a fast-moving and highly volatile situation. Not everything is a fatality. But it is for us all to ensure that we keep our individual and collective values and freedoms. If we don’t get this done accordingly in economic terms and try to heal the deep ills ultimately a great reset will be imposed by violent shocks like conflicts, wars, and even revolutions. One war is going so it seems that the committee to save the world failed to establish a middle ground. The Great Reset is still waiting for a good sign!
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