Do these technology solutions actually work, and are there other, less invasive ways to keep people safe? Did we leave anyone behind? If we say Black Lives Matter, are we willing to speak up in meetings where design decisions have the potential to put Black lives at risk? Are we willing to challenge cultural norms to ensure that we have representation from the people who are most affected by the decisions we make and whose talent we have overlooked?
Are we willing to sit down so someone else can speak, and amplify their voices? The use of AI to optimize the logistics of resource use could dramatically improve our nutrition, education, health and even our social interactions.
The addition of sensor feedback into automation of all types, from traffic handling to regulatory regimes, could greatly improve the functionality of our systems. Until we task AI with the complex logistics needed to optimize the use of resources and the smart automation needed to perform low-skilled jobs, many workers will be overtaxed: teachers, bus drivers, health professionals, mental health professionals, caregivers, administrators, just to name a few.
We face a vast amount of work that has been ignored over the past decades full of short-sighted decisions. We have failed to maintain our infrastructure, but more importantly, we have failed to care for the future of the next generation.
To turn that work into jobs requires determination and the ability to stand up for our values, stand up against a system that rewards corporations seeking short-term profit over any other goal.
Carbon fee and dividend is the first step toward shifting the structure of our economy toward a more egalitarian one, with better values. The policies of the current administration have accelerated that divide. Many companies in the tech and service industries will realize that a work-at-home model is efficient and less costly for some or many of their workforce and that they do not need expensive commercial urban real estate.
Therefore, more people will work from home, which affects everything from daily routines to the makeup of services offered to the home. However, this is a luxury for only a set of individuals who can work from home and can afford the set up high-speed access, required space and internet-enabled equipment to work from home.
This of course sets a new and quite complex normal for managing cybersecurity threats. Large-scale industry events will be less prevalent, as will the frequency of corporate travel. Overall, there will be less economic security. One of the legacies of the pandemic is the realization that although many conveniences of modern life are predicated on the simple assumption that close proximity of people yields economic and social benefits, in an age of accelerating climate change and multiple pandemics COVID is likely a precursor of others yet to come that will no longer hold true.
Conveniences such as airplane travel, movies, amphitheater, subways, high-rise apartment units, shopping malls, were based on this assumption and as a result densely packed areas were sustained hotspots of infection. The pandemic highlighted how unprepared we as a nation are, not only in terms of our acceptance of scientific and evidence-based advice, but also in regard to having the means to efficiently and economically deal with a public health crisis.
A beneficial tech-related change will be the delivery of some aspects of health care into the home. For example, people will continue to have online consultations with health professionals instead of an inconvenient in-person visit. This is already happening and will be the new normal. Internet of Things-based devices will be more plentiful and will serve as a means to monitor everyday health and diagnose and in some cases remotely manage illnesses without the need for intrusive surgery.
However, they will also pose a much greater threat in terms of privacy and cybersecurity. More and more private data will be generated, collected and used. Unless there are appropriate safeguards and controls as to how the data is handled, we will see an erosion of our privacy and further loss of control over our choices and decisions as a result.
Internet of Things devices have the potential to greatly improve our well-being, and we will see AI-enabled IoT devices which will, for example, monitor our health, provide biological feedback, anticipate and warm of an impending health crisis, etc. But IoT devices increase the attack surface and vectors for bad actors. We will see rise of new cybersecurity threats. Given where we are now in terms of lacking a basic level of cyber hygiene for these devices, unless we make significant progress we will fall further and further behind the bad actors.
If the pandemic persists for many months or spills over into another year, the recession will go into free fall. Countries without such a safety net will be forced to choose between solidarity and oppression. This will entail identification, allocation, distribution and delivery — all of it enabled by a range of digital tech. Identity control will therefore have to be enforced very strictly, to avoid fraud.
Other previously inconceivable disruptions will occur, e. Distinguished schools with vast traditions will thus have to reconsider and redefine their missions and their very purpose and a number of them may not prove sustainable. Overwhelmed health systems will become the reserve of emergency and infection treatments. Workplaces will become leaner and nimbler. Specialized teams will work on project-based assignments, often without the need for a large enterprise to sustain them.
Taxation and labour laws will need to change, to enable individuals to participate in a more secure, more equitable digitally enabled gig economy. Digital technologies can be employed to help to improve these conditions, but unless their benefits can be realized by all, social justice and equality will remain elusive. Digital technology, and the means to use and understand it, must be considered a primary social good.
Technologies that will assist people in living productive, healthy lives — like online learning, working and telemedicine tools — should be freely and widely available, along with necessary and relevant information and support. Social media enabled us to connect with people anywhere in glancing ways; video conferencing in many forms — virtual conferences, happy hours and so on — will let us connect in more direct and meaningful ways.
But we cannot gloss over the still-unknown health repercussions that millions of needlessly infected people will have to deal with; the severe economic impact on so many sectors of a service economy permanently affecting the employment of people in lower-paid jobs; the likely permanent economic damage to universities and colleges as institutions; the lost educational time for children during the pandemic; and mental stress on everyone.
As much we may now suffer Zoom fatigue, I believe that in the long run, having become accustomed to seeing people in online calls, we will find they provide richer interaction.
At work we will still be addicted to having too many damned meetings but if we can waste less time traveling or commuting to them, all the better. I would like to think that we would see the value in gathering and sharing health data at a level that would allow us to spot and treat problems early in their spread in the future, but I fear a growing moral panic around data may prevent that.
When it comes to platforms, specifically, one of my biggest concerns is the impact they have on our speech and our well-being or dignity. On the one hand, hate speech is rampant and companies are responding piecemeal. On the other hand, at a time when many of us need platforms for our livelihoods, companies are cracking down prudishly on nudity, sexuality and the human body. I worry about the fact that so many people are willing to hand over the governance of their speech to unaccountable actors.
Morgan G. And what I see are too many opportunities for the powerful to retrench and expand their power. Ubiquitous surveillance, increasingly fascist policing tactics, the expansion of hate groups that amplify the worst state ideologies, and the widening chasm between the ultra-rich and everyone else are all global structural trends that will be incredibly difficult, and incredibly disruptive, to reverse. As much as I would like to hold out hope that the disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus can be turned toward social justice, the evidence so far that this is the case is really not good.
Travel may be less necessary thanks to video conferencing. I have maintained significant international interactions despite time zone challenges for the past three months. I further expect:. Christina J. The failures of social media and AI are not technology problems. They are problems of human design and execution. Alan D. Technology will help if the right people do the right things. The social media were hijacked by thugs and trolls to do incalculable damage. Their efforts were at once ignored and abetted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk to amp up page views to boost ad revenues.
Social media had great promise to level the intellectual playing field by giving everyone the power to give or get whatever information they wanted. Instead, the social media have become treacherous cesspools of mis- and mal-information. Artificial intelligence can do wondrous things so long as it is properly trained and deployed.
That is its notable fail. For instance, AI often fails to accurately recognize the faces of people of color. When AI is used to recommend sentences for criminals, it tends to discriminate against people of color. Technology is only as good as the people who devise and control it. I am less interested in potential technology advances; I am worried about whether new developments will be wisely and safely deployed.
Kathleen M. There will be an increased understanding of viruses and how to create vaccines and improved technology to support health care. There will be regulation of and self-imposed constraints on social media platforms. There will be a small increase in automation, but more effort on designing and building even more automation for the home and small businesses that will become more ubiquitous and some type of certification for AI to show that it meets some ethical standards.
There will be certification for online tools to show that they meet some privacy standard. The U. Some jails have released large numbers of lesser offenders to prevent pandemic blooms. I predict this will also force legal reforms in how trials are conducted, which may even cause major changes in the legal profession. Sam S. Given the caveats of no multiple concurrent pandemics and no revolution-scale social unrest, these changes will likely accelerate a number of positive transitions that will improve life in general.
This was the case in and there is no reason to expect anything different here. Changes such as remote work, teleconferencing, telemedicine and remote learning are mostly positive. The changes that have emerged were technically feasible for years but held up by institutional rigidities.
As a whole, I think most people will be worse off, not solely because of the pandemic, but at least as much due to intensifying trade wars, a decline in international cooperation and more. The impact of climate change will still not be catastrophic, but it will continue to grow. I hope for the acceleration of trends toward remote work for jobs in the upper-income quartile or two. The greatly increased use of teleconferencing, with a corresponding decline in travel; tourism will take a long time to return to previous levels, if ever.
Increased reliance on telemedicine. A major retooling of the education and training systems was needed anyway, not only to shift to remote learning which is not simply the same as current practice done from afar , but also to lifelong learning.
I worry about the growing dominance of a small number of platforms. My worry for AI and big data is challenges with explainability. A key question is, how soon do we find a viable vaccine and how long does it take to put that into production, and when does it become part of the annual flu-season vaccine? If for some reason a vaccine and treatment continue to be elusive, then all bets are off for recovery by Some will not recover — for example, e-commerce, on-demand delivery and working from home are not retreating.
The displacement of brick-and-mortar retail by e-commerce, which has been steady and slow, has been kicked into high gear — how will the convenience of e-commerce versus the experience of physical retail unfold? While working from home or remotely under different scenarios is not perfect or anywhere near as good as it could be, it is here to stay.
Many firms are discovering it is very cost-effective. The jury is still out on the true impact of productivity gains or losses due to working from home. This will continue to provide funding for more innovations in the communications technology sector — we are already seeing improved security and some small advances in user interface and user-experience improvements we may finally get real spatialized audio. We seem to also be getting more serious about security. Longer-term it is clear, of course, that society will continue to increase its dependence on digitally intermediated systems for every facet of life: health care, education, shopping, groceries, entertainment, transportation, work and finance — that trend is unstoppable.
At the same time, we are a social species and we crave social interaction — risks will not sway us. I find it interesting that many modern efficiencies are based on getting many people physically close together. Transportation, sports events, restaurants, education, work teams, hospitals, city parks, gyms, places of worship, Fifth Avenue, etc.
Who and where do we each trust to get close to others? How will we meet new people? Will it be much more localized, like to our neighborhood? I expect a real increase in social isolation, especially for those older, or less tech savvy, or with few resources to connect virtually. From wikis and such to continuous virtual conferencing. I worry about the availability of accessible, stable and secure bandwidth. There are too many dropped calls, glitchy video, audio drops every other word and a lack of scalability for group discussions.
Privacy is also certainly an issue. If these are not addressed well it will increase social isolation. Many jobs are simply disappearing under the twin engines of small-business destruction and enterprise-scale automation.
More job providers are already seeking the security of automation to hedge against the next crisis. This will take 10 years at least. With such strong economic challenges, it is unclear if nationalism will retain its influence or if there will be a mandate for a more technocratic and educated leadership. In short, a five-year horizon will likely still feel disrupted and degraded for most, while a year horizon may see some of the sea changes underway that were only amplified by COVID start to yield meaningful results.
There will be a rocky transition to the next stable state. Companies substituting technology machines and algorithms for human labor. We will be able to scale up productivity to new heights by applying software and data to all areas of economic activity. Tech will also be on the front lines of responding to climate change. But tech will continue to foment huge problems like misinformation and social platforms that drive people apart. And in tech will be the vital ingredient of a new class of weaponry without safeguards to control it well.
It will also be seen in greater social and civic responsibility, including new controls on policing and greater access to services for minorities and underserved populations.
And it will be seen in a wider recognition of social responsibility, for example a return to more progressive taxation, especially corporate taxation, as a response to income inequality. The idea is that instead of depending on a specific social media application to connect with friends and colleagues, people could use the application of their choice and use a common messaging standard. This makes it more difficult for platforms to shape discourse using algorithms and to monetize discourse using tracking and advertising.
The current structure of dialogue and media privileges extreme and provocative content, which tends to polarize society and to make it more difficult to come to consensus on social issues.
Discourse that is more cooperative and creative enables constructive responses to be adopted society-wide to pressing issues of the day, including but not limited to equity, environment, prejudice and policing. With common communications protocols, solutions to pressing issues will begin to emerge. Common protocols also enable greater security, through such mechanisms of zero-knowledge proofs, for example.
This allows better insight into the effectiveness of social programs and enables governments and critics to evaluate innovation on more than merely financial or economic criteria. Before the pandemic, there was no incentive to support widely accessible cross-platform video conferencing.
Then we had Zoom, a simple tool everyone could use, and suddenly we could work from home, learn remotely or host conferences online. Having learned how convenient and efficient so many online services have become, we will be much less likely to commute to work, attend residence-based campuses or fly to conferences. This makes the world of work, learning and commerce much more accessible to large populations who previously did not have the resources to participate, and greatly increases our efficiency and productivity.
Privacy Shield that previously protected trans-Atlantic data transfers and the blossoming but inevitably incongruous new privacy regulations at the state level make this a regulatory void begging to be filled.
Alas, competing priorities and conflicting agendas in Congress make this a long shot in the short term. Empathetic leadership: One of the silver linings of this pandemic has been the increased focus on employee wellness.
Many companies have seen a cultural shift that places a larger emphasis on how workers are holding up during these tough times, a much-needed correction from the drumbeat of performance and profits above all else. Employees who feel supported and heard and know their leaders care for them as people are happier, more productive employees.
A regulatory reckoning could be coming. The racial equality movement sparked by the death of a Black man, George Floyd, in the hands of police in Minnesota combined with other galvanizing incidents across the country could lead to real change.
Companies are creating not just PR statements but actual policies to drive more diversity and inclusion in the workforce. At the board level, some states have created laws requiring more diversity, and Nasdaq on Dec. Similar environmental disclosure requirements might not be far behind. The Biden administration surely has intentions to adjust the strategy of the agency created by Dodd-Frank. Throw the book at those guys. These are the folks who deserve a little flexibility, perhaps guidance or a slap on the wrist instead of a business-crushing fine.
Compassionate leaders know when the carrot is a better option than the stick. Getting together in person! I miss the daily coffee runs with co-workers, the serendipitous brainstorming that occurs in the office, and of course those times we come together as a community to share ideas and best practices at a Compliance Week event.
With fingers crossed, I hope to see many of you sometime in the new year! For many, road trips may be the only feasible option for travel right now, and frequent fliers like Gabby Beckford of Packs Light are revving up. Related: Check out these eight epic drives across America. Conde Nast Traveller sustainability editor Juliet Kinsman predicts a shift to booking travel through agents and established operators, noting their invaluable knowledge and industry connections.
Additionally, she hopes that consumers will look to agents who specialize in the environment. Certified LEED Gold, the building features automated sun-shade fins that open and close as needed for heat regulation. Virtuoso , a network of advisors specializing in luxury travel, can help with good deals, convenient itineraries, and tailored experiences. Some are discovering the benefits of travel even at home. Although some people are making the best of being grounded, this difficult period is reminding them that travel is important for boosting mental health and personal growth.
A survey of U. Planning a trip is just as effective—a Cornell study showed that looking forward to travel substantially increases happiness, more than anticipating buying material goods. Joanna Penn can attest to the healing benefits of both. The U. Take action: Plan a trip now, with inspiration from this essay on why travel should be considered an essential human activity.
All rights reserved. Sustainability will be a driving force. Steve Brock is a writer and photographer located in the Seattle, Washington, area. Follow him on Instagram. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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Travel 5 pandemic tech innovations that will change travel forever These digital innovations will make your next trip safer and more efficient.
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