2020 The Year of the Virus
January 24th, on the eve of the Year of the Rat, an ominous sign caught my eye with the virus news from China. The outbreak went unnoticed for most of us during the earlier month. With my knack for prophecies I had already checked in December 2019 for possible bad events in 2020. All was quiet on the prediction front.
Nostradamus disciples and pundits and Mrs Vanga admirers expounded on many subjects, from Mr Trump's health and his reelection to Mr Putin's fate, with a possible putsch in the Kremlin. Not a single word on any virus with a crown! To say the least my interest for soothsayer's truth has taken a beating.
This mind blowing event is more than a wake up call. It will have long lasting and existential consequences for all. If you asked me what type of occurrence could surpass this in gravity and impact, I would say none. So let's pause, take a deep breadth while we reflect on the situation.
1. Climate change
Assuming that Ecology is a religion, then I was an agnostic or an environmental skeptic, unlike many who believe it's a fanatical sect or a left wing conspiracy to control the political agenda. They consider climate change as a hoax or 'fake news' as they call it. But this health crisis is a game changer and if this terrible tremor doesn't shake their moral conscience, nothing will.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, the young voice of the green movement across Europe is our Jeanne d'Arc in this battle for the hearts and minds of world opinion. She's being ostracized and ridiculed by many populists and undemocratic eggheads governing this world. This new crisis is a stark reminder that humankind will be decimated from within unless we heed the fight of the younger generation for our very survival. We have been mercilessly abusing this planet and risking its viability with our unhinged commercial exploitation. The time is ripe for genuine mea culpa.
2. Deforestation and its aftermath
One of the greatest human blunder is the unrelenting destruction of continental forests as the Amazon in the Southern hemisphere, the last big natural reservoir of animal species, plants and other living organisms. The new Bolsonaro regime has since systematically erased a great part of its natural forest where thousands of living creatures and species have coexisted in their proper habitat.
Almost 10,000 square km (size of Hawaii) were destroyed in a year, a 30% surge compared to 2017. Since 1985, Brazil has lost more than 45 million hectares of forest.This ecosystem of harmonious symbiosis between the Amazonian natives and their natural habitat is under threat with the elimination of numerous species. The remaining ones have to depend on human urban protection, in a milieu forever restrained and not their own.
By destroying their habitat and transforming forest into agriculture without knowing the impact on climate, disease emergence, carbon excess, we are triggering a 'zoonotic spillover', an unhealthy relation between humans and animals. An infection from stressed out species which has secreted the very virus we are now combating was the outcome, according to epidemiologists.
The forest fires raging in Australia is another example that created a forced migration of animals, an exodus equivalent to human refugees escaping from war zones. Koalas, kangaroos and ostriches were running around for their lives and becoming 'outlanders' in their own living territory.
3. Man versus animal
In Asia and Africa, long held culinary traditions for wild animals as delicacies are still widely practiced. These unsavory acts create unintended consequences. They fatally have a boomerang effect and do explain the source of multiple virus outbreaks due to these unsanitary and uncivilized eating habits.
The interaction between man and beast is complex but predictable. Wild animal genocide is ongoing and growing, not the least due to the ever narrowing living space for all living creatures. The explosion of humans effectively was behind their aggressiveness, not only among themselves but towards other species through the ages. Their predatory behavior culminate in the gradual extinction of many of them.
Darwin clearly demonstrated with his observations about the human race in his famous theory of the 'evolution of species' and his concept of 'survival of the fittest'. But one of the lessons we ought to remember is that animal or viral species evolve too. Their adaptability and sense of preservation should not be underestimated.
From now on let's be vigilant and be prepared for we tend to forget the lessons of the past. Let's not philander our material resources and brains on building military weapons. Instead of fighting and killing fellow men, we should devote our limited resources to defend against a more vicious invisible common enemy. And we should invest massively in medical research and in our health system for the sake of humanity.
4. Materialism and mass production
'' Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility''
This axiom from renowned author F. Schumacher should be regarded as an article of faith. Society evolves at great speed and the exponential trend of human activities requires some rethinking. Every 10 year or so, the economy hits a peak followed by a slow down, i.e a recession or pause, a well defined economic cycle of a functioning society. But since 2009 the last major economic and financial crisis, we have had the longest period of growth demonstrated by the incredible surge of the stock market.
From 6875 points in 2009, it went up to 29290 points for the Dow index in February of 2020, a whopping increase of more than 325% (multiplied by 4.25 in 11 years). The result is a phenomenal increase in wealth for the last decade. That left us feel dizzy and wondered when all this will come to a stop? Well, in a matter of weeks since, the market came down crashing. We are totally caught by surprise by a small virus. It was sudden and more deadly than a mega earthquake.
On hindsight, the pandemic is as good as any other trigger mechanism to make us rethink about our lifestyle, our mass consumption with few considerations for real values and for the damage to the environment. By coincidence, I am reading again the book by economist Schumacher ''Small is beautiful''. His premonitory analysis and observation during the time of the 1974 oil crisis was right on and could be applied to today's predicament.
5. Capitalism under siege
For the last 20 years the world economy has pulled out all the stops and pushed output volume to new high, while nations are trying to compete to get ahead. We were in the most favorable of conditions and countries were doubling down on investment in a context of low inflation, low interest rate for credit coupled with a booming financial market and continuing growth.
The strong outlook created a sense of unchecked optimism that things would go on forever. Even the US-China trade war in the last 4 years didn't dampen the market and the technologically-driven business sector sense of confidence. Some market analysts did predict a mild recession for this year but were dismissed. Greed usually has the upper hand and no one suspected or expected a market tsunami that's about to happen.
Since February the markets have wiped out all the gain made in the last 4 years, a loss of 11 trillion dollars, or half the US GDP value... The direct impact of Covid-19 is the crumbling of the world economy as fast as this virus has arrived. The specter is a looming global depression reminiscent of 1929 or worse. And our leaders will have a stark choice to make: saving the economy or saving lives?
6. Democracy: an endangered specie
Since Trump took over the White House, in the last 4 years the political map has changed noticeably in the world. Numerous populist and demagogic leaders got elected or retained power. The list gets longer: Bolsonaro of Brazil, Erdogan of Turkey, Orban of Hungary, not mentioning Putin vying the presidency for life and of course Xi Jinping of China. They will have the perfect excuse to stay on longer and reinforce their control on society as this crisis persists.
With a clumsy handling of the crisis, Trump probably could entertain the idea of stretching his term past November this year, citing the state of emergency which by all account was due to his own lack of leadership. There is one lesson the American people should have learned: not to underestimate Trump's ability to mislead his people with his nefarious phrases and double meaning talk. And curiously with this crisis, his recent poll numbers go up while the economy goes down.
7. Conspiracy theories
If you relied on information fed by social media, a kind over the counter press, Covid-19 was possibly man made. The news seemed more credible because the epicenter of the virus originated from Wuhan China, where there is a laboratory testing bio-viruses. And the real source of the outbreak is still unknown, other than suspicions it came from exotic wild animals.
Geopolitics being part of today's world, China and the US are blaming each other as the main culprit of this pandemic. It's hard to imagine that the 2 superpowers would risk the lives of their own people and the whole planet by contemplating an intentional war by viruses. Or may be it was an accident? The question is still there, lingering and unanswered. And China with its political setup was not being totally transparent at first, minimizing the extent of the outbreak.
If you look at the John Hopkins Covid-19 daily map, the outbreak started in Hubei province which was quarantined, but it spread quickly to Iran, Europe and finally North America due to inhibited extensive travel and migration. But the African continent was strangely spared (except Egypt and South Africa). Now that China has practically recovered from the first virus onslaught, it could use the full capacity of its power on the rest of the world while proving that its model has efficiently tackled the crisis.
My point is, if (important 2 letters) the Chinese have had the design to trigger the outbreak to weaken the West and becoming the greatest superpower, they may have already succeeded. For those who don't grasp Chinese thinking, a loss of a few million beings is a small sacrifice for a greater cause, in a society where collective aim takes precedent over individual rights . The kind of drastic clamp down to control the virus seems harsh and drastic to the Western eye, but Chinese leaders adhere to the Machiavelli motto that ''the end justifies the means''. History will be the judge when the dust has all settled. Let's hope that the virus did originate from a wild pangolin!
8.Technology or Stay Home option
I just heard yesterday that a supercomputer in a few minutes has identified 77 chemical agents susceptible of treating the corona virus. President Trump definitely will count on that to solve the outbreak. How about a vaccine in the coming months, or the chloroquine a highly toxic agent to cure the patient right away? As a disciple of Schumacher I have my doubt that medical science will solve the pandemic crisis. It hasn't eradicate seasonal flu or a cold! This virus will eventually disappear at a time of its own choosing.
Contrary to people's belief, remedies offered by medical innovation and R&D take time. In economics, we have a well known principle: 'short term pain for long term gain'. And there must be a price to pay for shortcut and easy solution. As an example: if I want to go on a spending spree, I will be heavily in debt and be financially castrated in the long term. People tend to find the easiest path and bypassing the fundamental economic rule in life.
Technology has defined our society and its progress. It remains as the engine of prosperity and material well being we have acquired so far. But there is the other side of coin. For example, health science hasn't solved obesity and its related health issues. Why? Because modern society has its own logic: let's keep eating junk food, let's create a medical challenge that a new surgery field, a new weight watchers industry will take care of it. And GDP number will grow accordingly. The simple solution would have been: eat less and exercise more. But that won't create new jobs and opportunities...
''Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme'', according to Rabelais a French philosopher ( translation: ''Science without conscience is only perdition of the soul''). And to quote Mr Schumacher: '' The developments of Science and Technology over the last 100 years have been such that the dangers have grown faster than the opportunities...''
Covid-19, the infamous virus just gave us a first warning shot. More will come in due time if we don't heed the lesson. How about an easy and quick way to eradicate this virus? Stay home and avoid people, a much simpler method than science could offer. We have a stark choice to make: either kill the economy in the short term or save people in the long term. Short term pain for long term gain.
9. Globalization and its downside
Mrs Vanga didn't predict the pandemic but did foresee the undoing of the E.U years ago, first with the Brexit in 2016 (the year of the UK referendum). She also foretold the emptying of Europe of its inhabitants, a daring prediction indeed. In a literal sense, it could be the empty streets of Europeans in their cities and towns during this period of confinement and lock down. I will go further and predict that the European Union is on its terminal phase for the lack of solidarity it demonstrated during this crisis. The strength of any political union lies in times of upheaval where institutional deficiencies can be reinforced, not when everything goes well.
The Greek bailout during the early Euro crisis, the refugees discord unsettled among the European nations, and now the sanitary outbreak caught Europe overwhelmed and unprepared for a common response. As with the migrant problem, the common border of the Union or Schengen area didn't foresee the health emergency we are facing. Open borders policy within Europe is a self destructive Trojan horse and globalization with massive movements of people is an invitation for disaster.
A lot of rethinking will have to be done in Europe and in the world about increasing circulation of people and its consequences on health security. And the time is ripe for a surge of nationalistic, xenophobic and segregationist movements. We could be pushed back to the 1920's when the Great Depression gave rise to national-socialism and fascism. History tends to repeat itself under the favorable conditions.
10. Wisdom as new religion
I go back to Schumacher, the author of ''Small is Beautiful''. This title became quite a rallying cry for change to Western nations' approach to production and conservation. The context was different when he wrote it during the oil crisis in 1973. But the diagnostic he proposed was still valid today. And I will expand on his specific reflections in a separate avenue. Many statements he wrote hit me hard when I read the book this time. They are self explanatory like:
''The system of nature, of which man is a part, tend to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.''
'' If we squander the capital represented by living nature around us, we threaten life itself''
'' Dominant modern belief has an almost irresistible attraction as it suggests that the faster you get to one desirable thing the more securely do you attain another. It's is doubly attractive because it completely bypasses the whole question of ethics: there is no need for renunciation and sacrifice''
''The new problems are not the consequences of incidental failures but of the technological success'' (author: Barry Commoner)
'' The exclusion of wisdom from economics, science and technology was something which we could perhaps get away with for a little while, but now that we have become successful, the problem of spiritual and moral truth moves into central position''
His teachings inspire me to adhere to his ethical principles. We should uphold them and make them our own. I would define them as the new 10 commandments (and their antithesis) for a post-crisis world :
1) quality vs quantity (or value vs volume)
2) essential vs excess
3) simplicity vs self indulgence
4) solidarity vs selfishness
5) people vs profit
6) consensus vs conflict
7) harmony vs hatred
8) idea(lism) vs ideology
9) information vs indoctrination
and finally last but not least
10) moral wisdom vs material wealth
The world better listens to Mr F. Schumacher prescient revelations almost 50 years ago. The way each country surmounts this challenge of biblical proportion, with the least casualty and damage, will be the yardstick of accomplishment for its governance, social cohesiveness and structure.
Ottawa, March 23, 2020
LN
Nostradamus disciples and pundits and Mrs Vanga admirers expounded on many subjects, from Mr Trump's health and his reelection to Mr Putin's fate, with a possible putsch in the Kremlin. Not a single word on any virus with a crown! To say the least my interest for soothsayer's truth has taken a beating.
This mind blowing event is more than a wake up call. It will have long lasting and existential consequences for all. If you asked me what type of occurrence could surpass this in gravity and impact, I would say none. So let's pause, take a deep breadth while we reflect on the situation.
1. Climate change
Assuming that Ecology is a religion, then I was an agnostic or an environmental skeptic, unlike many who believe it's a fanatical sect or a left wing conspiracy to control the political agenda. They consider climate change as a hoax or 'fake news' as they call it. But this health crisis is a game changer and if this terrible tremor doesn't shake their moral conscience, nothing will.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, the young voice of the green movement across Europe is our Jeanne d'Arc in this battle for the hearts and minds of world opinion. She's being ostracized and ridiculed by many populists and undemocratic eggheads governing this world. This new crisis is a stark reminder that humankind will be decimated from within unless we heed the fight of the younger generation for our very survival. We have been mercilessly abusing this planet and risking its viability with our unhinged commercial exploitation. The time is ripe for genuine mea culpa.
2. Deforestation and its aftermath
One of the greatest human blunder is the unrelenting destruction of continental forests as the Amazon in the Southern hemisphere, the last big natural reservoir of animal species, plants and other living organisms. The new Bolsonaro regime has since systematically erased a great part of its natural forest where thousands of living creatures and species have coexisted in their proper habitat.
Almost 10,000 square km (size of Hawaii) were destroyed in a year, a 30% surge compared to 2017. Since 1985, Brazil has lost more than 45 million hectares of forest.This ecosystem of harmonious symbiosis between the Amazonian natives and their natural habitat is under threat with the elimination of numerous species. The remaining ones have to depend on human urban protection, in a milieu forever restrained and not their own.
By destroying their habitat and transforming forest into agriculture without knowing the impact on climate, disease emergence, carbon excess, we are triggering a 'zoonotic spillover', an unhealthy relation between humans and animals. An infection from stressed out species which has secreted the very virus we are now combating was the outcome, according to epidemiologists.
The forest fires raging in Australia is another example that created a forced migration of animals, an exodus equivalent to human refugees escaping from war zones. Koalas, kangaroos and ostriches were running around for their lives and becoming 'outlanders' in their own living territory.
3. Man versus animal
In Asia and Africa, long held culinary traditions for wild animals as delicacies are still widely practiced. These unsavory acts create unintended consequences. They fatally have a boomerang effect and do explain the source of multiple virus outbreaks due to these unsanitary and uncivilized eating habits.
The interaction between man and beast is complex but predictable. Wild animal genocide is ongoing and growing, not the least due to the ever narrowing living space for all living creatures. The explosion of humans effectively was behind their aggressiveness, not only among themselves but towards other species through the ages. Their predatory behavior culminate in the gradual extinction of many of them.
Darwin clearly demonstrated with his observations about the human race in his famous theory of the 'evolution of species' and his concept of 'survival of the fittest'. But one of the lessons we ought to remember is that animal or viral species evolve too. Their adaptability and sense of preservation should not be underestimated.
From now on let's be vigilant and be prepared for we tend to forget the lessons of the past. Let's not philander our material resources and brains on building military weapons. Instead of fighting and killing fellow men, we should devote our limited resources to defend against a more vicious invisible common enemy. And we should invest massively in medical research and in our health system for the sake of humanity.
4. Materialism and mass production
'' Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility''
This axiom from renowned author F. Schumacher should be regarded as an article of faith. Society evolves at great speed and the exponential trend of human activities requires some rethinking. Every 10 year or so, the economy hits a peak followed by a slow down, i.e a recession or pause, a well defined economic cycle of a functioning society. But since 2009 the last major economic and financial crisis, we have had the longest period of growth demonstrated by the incredible surge of the stock market.
From 6875 points in 2009, it went up to 29290 points for the Dow index in February of 2020, a whopping increase of more than 325% (multiplied by 4.25 in 11 years). The result is a phenomenal increase in wealth for the last decade. That left us feel dizzy and wondered when all this will come to a stop? Well, in a matter of weeks since, the market came down crashing. We are totally caught by surprise by a small virus. It was sudden and more deadly than a mega earthquake.
On hindsight, the pandemic is as good as any other trigger mechanism to make us rethink about our lifestyle, our mass consumption with few considerations for real values and for the damage to the environment. By coincidence, I am reading again the book by economist Schumacher ''Small is beautiful''. His premonitory analysis and observation during the time of the 1974 oil crisis was right on and could be applied to today's predicament.
5. Capitalism under siege
For the last 20 years the world economy has pulled out all the stops and pushed output volume to new high, while nations are trying to compete to get ahead. We were in the most favorable of conditions and countries were doubling down on investment in a context of low inflation, low interest rate for credit coupled with a booming financial market and continuing growth.
The strong outlook created a sense of unchecked optimism that things would go on forever. Even the US-China trade war in the last 4 years didn't dampen the market and the technologically-driven business sector sense of confidence. Some market analysts did predict a mild recession for this year but were dismissed. Greed usually has the upper hand and no one suspected or expected a market tsunami that's about to happen.
Since February the markets have wiped out all the gain made in the last 4 years, a loss of 11 trillion dollars, or half the US GDP value... The direct impact of Covid-19 is the crumbling of the world economy as fast as this virus has arrived. The specter is a looming global depression reminiscent of 1929 or worse. And our leaders will have a stark choice to make: saving the economy or saving lives?
6. Democracy: an endangered specie
Since Trump took over the White House, in the last 4 years the political map has changed noticeably in the world. Numerous populist and demagogic leaders got elected or retained power. The list gets longer: Bolsonaro of Brazil, Erdogan of Turkey, Orban of Hungary, not mentioning Putin vying the presidency for life and of course Xi Jinping of China. They will have the perfect excuse to stay on longer and reinforce their control on society as this crisis persists.
With a clumsy handling of the crisis, Trump probably could entertain the idea of stretching his term past November this year, citing the state of emergency which by all account was due to his own lack of leadership. There is one lesson the American people should have learned: not to underestimate Trump's ability to mislead his people with his nefarious phrases and double meaning talk. And curiously with this crisis, his recent poll numbers go up while the economy goes down.
7. Conspiracy theories
If you relied on information fed by social media, a kind over the counter press, Covid-19 was possibly man made. The news seemed more credible because the epicenter of the virus originated from Wuhan China, where there is a laboratory testing bio-viruses. And the real source of the outbreak is still unknown, other than suspicions it came from exotic wild animals.
Geopolitics being part of today's world, China and the US are blaming each other as the main culprit of this pandemic. It's hard to imagine that the 2 superpowers would risk the lives of their own people and the whole planet by contemplating an intentional war by viruses. Or may be it was an accident? The question is still there, lingering and unanswered. And China with its political setup was not being totally transparent at first, minimizing the extent of the outbreak.
If you look at the John Hopkins Covid-19 daily map, the outbreak started in Hubei province which was quarantined, but it spread quickly to Iran, Europe and finally North America due to inhibited extensive travel and migration. But the African continent was strangely spared (except Egypt and South Africa). Now that China has practically recovered from the first virus onslaught, it could use the full capacity of its power on the rest of the world while proving that its model has efficiently tackled the crisis.
My point is, if (important 2 letters) the Chinese have had the design to trigger the outbreak to weaken the West and becoming the greatest superpower, they may have already succeeded. For those who don't grasp Chinese thinking, a loss of a few million beings is a small sacrifice for a greater cause, in a society where collective aim takes precedent over individual rights . The kind of drastic clamp down to control the virus seems harsh and drastic to the Western eye, but Chinese leaders adhere to the Machiavelli motto that ''the end justifies the means''. History will be the judge when the dust has all settled. Let's hope that the virus did originate from a wild pangolin!
8.Technology or Stay Home option
I just heard yesterday that a supercomputer in a few minutes has identified 77 chemical agents susceptible of treating the corona virus. President Trump definitely will count on that to solve the outbreak. How about a vaccine in the coming months, or the chloroquine a highly toxic agent to cure the patient right away? As a disciple of Schumacher I have my doubt that medical science will solve the pandemic crisis. It hasn't eradicate seasonal flu or a cold! This virus will eventually disappear at a time of its own choosing.
Contrary to people's belief, remedies offered by medical innovation and R&D take time. In economics, we have a well known principle: 'short term pain for long term gain'. And there must be a price to pay for shortcut and easy solution. As an example: if I want to go on a spending spree, I will be heavily in debt and be financially castrated in the long term. People tend to find the easiest path and bypassing the fundamental economic rule in life.
Technology has defined our society and its progress. It remains as the engine of prosperity and material well being we have acquired so far. But there is the other side of coin. For example, health science hasn't solved obesity and its related health issues. Why? Because modern society has its own logic: let's keep eating junk food, let's create a medical challenge that a new surgery field, a new weight watchers industry will take care of it. And GDP number will grow accordingly. The simple solution would have been: eat less and exercise more. But that won't create new jobs and opportunities...
''Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme'', according to Rabelais a French philosopher ( translation: ''Science without conscience is only perdition of the soul''). And to quote Mr Schumacher: '' The developments of Science and Technology over the last 100 years have been such that the dangers have grown faster than the opportunities...''
Covid-19, the infamous virus just gave us a first warning shot. More will come in due time if we don't heed the lesson. How about an easy and quick way to eradicate this virus? Stay home and avoid people, a much simpler method than science could offer. We have a stark choice to make: either kill the economy in the short term or save people in the long term. Short term pain for long term gain.
9. Globalization and its downside
Mrs Vanga didn't predict the pandemic but did foresee the undoing of the E.U years ago, first with the Brexit in 2016 (the year of the UK referendum). She also foretold the emptying of Europe of its inhabitants, a daring prediction indeed. In a literal sense, it could be the empty streets of Europeans in their cities and towns during this period of confinement and lock down. I will go further and predict that the European Union is on its terminal phase for the lack of solidarity it demonstrated during this crisis. The strength of any political union lies in times of upheaval where institutional deficiencies can be reinforced, not when everything goes well.
The Greek bailout during the early Euro crisis, the refugees discord unsettled among the European nations, and now the sanitary outbreak caught Europe overwhelmed and unprepared for a common response. As with the migrant problem, the common border of the Union or Schengen area didn't foresee the health emergency we are facing. Open borders policy within Europe is a self destructive Trojan horse and globalization with massive movements of people is an invitation for disaster.
A lot of rethinking will have to be done in Europe and in the world about increasing circulation of people and its consequences on health security. And the time is ripe for a surge of nationalistic, xenophobic and segregationist movements. We could be pushed back to the 1920's when the Great Depression gave rise to national-socialism and fascism. History tends to repeat itself under the favorable conditions.
10. Wisdom as new religion
I go back to Schumacher, the author of ''Small is Beautiful''. This title became quite a rallying cry for change to Western nations' approach to production and conservation. The context was different when he wrote it during the oil crisis in 1973. But the diagnostic he proposed was still valid today. And I will expand on his specific reflections in a separate avenue. Many statements he wrote hit me hard when I read the book this time. They are self explanatory like:
''The system of nature, of which man is a part, tend to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.''
'' If we squander the capital represented by living nature around us, we threaten life itself''
'' Dominant modern belief has an almost irresistible attraction as it suggests that the faster you get to one desirable thing the more securely do you attain another. It's is doubly attractive because it completely bypasses the whole question of ethics: there is no need for renunciation and sacrifice''
''The new problems are not the consequences of incidental failures but of the technological success'' (author: Barry Commoner)
'' The exclusion of wisdom from economics, science and technology was something which we could perhaps get away with for a little while, but now that we have become successful, the problem of spiritual and moral truth moves into central position''
His teachings inspire me to adhere to his ethical principles. We should uphold them and make them our own. I would define them as the new 10 commandments (and their antithesis) for a post-crisis world :
1) quality vs quantity (or value vs volume)
2) essential vs excess
3) simplicity vs self indulgence
4) solidarity vs selfishness
5) people vs profit
6) consensus vs conflict
7) harmony vs hatred
8) idea(lism) vs ideology
9) information vs indoctrination
and finally last but not least
10) moral wisdom vs material wealth
The world better listens to Mr F. Schumacher prescient revelations almost 50 years ago. The way each country surmounts this challenge of biblical proportion, with the least casualty and damage, will be the yardstick of accomplishment for its governance, social cohesiveness and structure.
Ottawa, March 23, 2020
LN
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