Page 190 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

divided, nationalistic and prone to conflicts than it is today. Many
of the trends reviewed in the macro section suggest that, moving

into the future, our world will be less open and less cooperative
than before the pandemic. But an alternative scenario is possible,
one in which collective action within communities and greater
collaboration between nations enable a more rapid and peaceful

exit from the corona crisis. As economies restart, there is an
opportunity to embed greater societal equality and sustainability
into the recovery, accelerating rather than delaying progress
towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and unleashing

a new era of prosperity. [167] What could make this possible and
raise the probability odds in favour of such an outcome?

Seeing the failures and fault lines in the cruel light of day cast
by the corona crisis may compel us to act faster by replacing

failed ideas, institutions, processes and rules with new ones better
suited to current and future needs. This is the essence of the
Great Reset. Could the globally shared experience of the
pandemic help alleviate some of the problems we faced as the

crisis started? Can a better society emerge from the lockdowns?
Amartya Sen, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economics, thinks so,
believing that: “The need to act together can certainly generate an
appreciation of the constructive role of public action,” [168] citing as

proof some examples like World War II having made people
realize the importance of international cooperation, and
convincing countries like the UK of the benefit of better-shared
food and healthcare (and the eventual creation of the welfare

state). Jared Diamond, the author of Upheaval: How Nations
Cope with Crisis and Change, is of a similar opinion, hoping that
the corona crisis will compel us to address four existential risks
that we collectively face: 1) nuclear threats; 2) climate change; 3)

the unsustainable use of essential resources like forests, seafood,
topsoil and fresh water; and 4) the consequences of the enormous
differences in standards of living between the world’s peoples:

“Strange as it may seem, the successful resolution of the
pandemic crisis may motivate us to deal with those bigger issues
that we have until now balked at confronting. If the pandemic does
at last prepare us to deal with those existential threats, there may

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