There is no “normal” to which the world will return after the coronavirus pandemic has burnt itself out. Too much has changed, and human nature is adjusting to a new reality.

There is no “normal” to which the world will return after the coronavirus pandemic has burnt itself out. Too much has changed, and human nature is adjusting to a new reality. The key to this is the role of the internet in its many manifestations, combined with the gradual unwinding of the globalisation of the world economy and the reversion across the globe to the pre-eminence of the nation state. There is a certain irony in this, as the coronavirus knows nothing of international borders and boundaries, and the internet itself is an expression of globalisation.

As many people are forced to work from home, there is a renewed sense of “home” as a place of security and identity. And that includes a rediscovery of the importance of family and neighbourhood. But it can also be a place of tension, even violence. Those who lack either or both of those support networks, especially those deprived of participation in the internet, are emerging as the new poor.

The human being is a social animal; the hermit is the exception. To be deprived of social connections for any length of time is to risk being diminished in one’s humanity. This is indeed a psychological danger in the “social distancing” that governments have been forced to impose, particularly if it goes on a lot longer. On the other hand, the internet itself appears to have brought people closer together. These paradoxes need exploring more deeply.

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