It has been a year since the pandemic of Covid-19 struck every corner of the world. When the pandemic will end is hard to predict. The pandemic of Covid-19 has stopped the proper functioning of economy, society, education and almost all areas in the whole world. How long would it take to recover and resume all the operations as we did before the pandemic? Some optimistic views estimate that the recovery will take only 1 or 2 years, and some pessimistic views estimate that we will never be able to go back to the world we once lived in before the pandemic. In other words, it is hard to estimate when and how of the recovery.
It also leads us to conclude that in facing the uncertainty of the future, we all have to make efforts to figure out how to not only manage but also prosper after the pandemic is over. It is an undeniable fact that we are all damaged in some ways due to the pandemic. However, instead of being preoccupied with the damage and loss, we need to think about what we can do to prepare for the future to come after the pandemic.
To prevent experiencing similar pandemic cases in the future, nations and societies are expected to take more closed policies and promote communication systems without involving direct contacts. From the perspective of individuals, we must take this time of pandemic to prepare ourselves for the advent of unknown future. We must learn about what the changed world will be like to be able to keep up with the change. We must make efforts to leave the existing ideas and ways of doing things and adapt ourselves to the changed world, regardless of individual’s situations.
We are minimizing face to face contacts due to the pandemic, but we are communicating through non-contact methods more than ever before. Industries that involve or promote non-contact methods are already thriving. If you are just waiting for the pandemic to be over and for you to go back to the world that we had in the past, you may have a hard time adapting yourself to the new world still keeping old ideas and old ways of doing things.
Research and development on artificial intelligence is expediting the process of moving from contact society to non-contact society. A wild guess can be taken that most human relationships will be formed through the internet, and only close relationships will maintain face to face contact. Advanced technology in many fields may lead to a completely different shape and appearance of the industrial world.
For now, it is impossible to predict what the world after the pandemic will look like, and many people are actually in fear and despair. Still, we must do our best to fight fear and despair and come up with ideas for how to manage and prosper in the rapidly changing world. We are living in a time when thinking properly and making efforts to prepare for the future are important more than ever.
