A new future or a new normal?

I am not comfortable with the term “new normal.” Once something becomes normal it precludes change and that is exactly what happened to us. We needed change but it would not happen or could not have happened unless we had something as tragic as a pandemic of biblical proportions.

There is a story in the Book of Jubilees that told of how builders worked for 43 years (50 years of the Jubilee period minus the mystical number seven) and built a structure one and a half miles high! Their purpose was to enter into heaven itself.

Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities (first century CE) adds a story about Abraham, a model of courage, refusing to cooperate with the builders and so being thrown into a fiery furnace, much like the three young men in Daniel 3. God sends an earthquake to destroy the furnace, and then he changes both the builders’ languages and their appearance, so that no one can recognize even his or her own brother. Other traditions think that the builders of the tower were either giants (Pseudo-Eupolemus) or were humans led by the mighty hunter and city-builder Nimrod mentioned in Genesis 10 (Josephus). Each interpreter imaginatively builds on some chance word or phrase in the biblical text to try to answer reasonable questions about it.

Meanwhile, the first-century philosopher and biblical interpreter writes an entire book on this chapter, which he interprets as an allegory about human morality: the builders represent greed and venality.

That has been true of significant events in human history. Change is a moment and we should not misuse it by wanting to make it normal. On the contrary, change should accompany all human activity. When we lose sight of the essence of change and make it normal – whatever that means – it becomes an inescapable trap. The first days may be a time of relief but we can also be trapped if it is made normal.

We should not be stuck in normality but seek to keep to find ways to change no matter how difficult it can be. I once heard a conversation between two brilliant journalists talking quietly apart from the speakers and the audience. One said, “I think that the solution to poverty is to make a massive transfer of finance and resources to the poor countries.” Both shook their heads on how it can be done when the rich countries continue acquiring systems to continue increasing their wealth because that is what was normally expected.

The new normal should be consciously and constantly questioned. It should not be allowed to continue its momentum even if we are aware that it will ultimately lead to disaster.

I prefer that the “sustainable response to COVID 19 should lead to a new future rather than a new normal.”

WHO declared that the recent resurgence of cases and undetected transmission among younger and healthier populations suggests that the COVID-19 outbreak will likely continue for the foreseeable future until a safe and effective vaccine becomes widely available. Or will it be available only to rich countries who can afford it?

To respond to these emerging trends, some countries in our region are starting to explore more sustainable and targeted response models that proactively work to suppress new COVID-19 outbreaks while reviving their economies and societies, rather than taking a reactive approach to outbreaks and having to repeat nation-wide “lockdowns.”

In the short-term, governments should continue strengthening public health and health system capacity, especially the early detection of and targeted response to asymptomatic transmission among younger populations. The Philippines under President Duterte is working and allotting funds for better and affordable health systems.

What is happening now can become dangerously normal.

Life will be revolutionized by the growing effect of multidisciplinary technology across all dimensions of life: social, economic, political and personal. Biotechnology will enable us to identify, understand, manipulate, improve and control living organisms (including ourselves). The revolution of information availability and utility will continue to profoundly affect the world in all these dimensions. Smart materials, agile manufacturing and nanotechnology will change the way we produce devices while expanding their capabilities. These technologies may also be joined by “wild cards” if barriers to their development are resolved in time.

We cannot foresee what it will lead to: reshuffling of wealth, cultural amalgamation or invasion with potential for increased tension and conflict, shifts in power from nation states to non-governmental organizations and individuals, mixed environmental effects, improvements in quality of life with accompanying prosperity and reduced tension, and the possibility of human eugenics and cloning.

The actual realization of these possibilities will depend on a number of factors, including local acceptance of technological change, levels of technology and infrastructure investments, market drivers and limitations, and technology breakthroughs and advancements. Since these factors vary across the globe, the implementation and effects of technology will also vary, especially in developing countries. Nevertheless, the overall revolution and trends will continue through much of the developed world.

The fast pace of technological development and breakthroughs makes foresight difficult, but the technology revolution seems globally significant and quite likely.

Biotechnology will revolutionize life itself. Disease, malnutrition, food production, pollution, life expectancy, quality of life, crime and security will be significantly addressed, improved or augmented.

Some advances could be viewed as accelerations of human-engineered evolution of plants, animals and, in some ways, even humans with accompanying changes in the ecosystem. Research is also under way to create new, free-living organisms.

We can even be capable to use genetic engineering techniques to “improve” the human species and clone humans. These will be very controversial developments – among the most controversial in the entire history of mankind.

Thus, the revolution of biology will not come without issue and unforeseen redirections. Significant ethical, moral, religious, privacy and environmental debates and protests are already being raised in such areas as genetically modified foods, cloning and genomic profiling. These issues should not halt this revolution, but they will modify its course over the next 15 years as the population comes to grips with the new powers enabled by biotechnology.

Will this be the modern version of the 43-year tower building that aimed to reach heaven in biblical times?