Some thoughts on how the world is changing in 2020 (a thread):

1/ Throughout history, economic crises have had a tendency to accelerate the economic trends already happening. If you were manufacturing CDs in 2001, life already sucked—rampant internet piracy, MP3s, streaming...

2/ You were already having a rough time—but through an economic downturn on top of that and you were doubly screwed. The downturn kept more customers at home, shopping online, finding MP3 downloads, and file-sharing sites.

Hello, Apple music store. Goodbye physical music store.

3/ The same changes have been going on during this crisis. In fact, given how sudden and extreme the recent downturn has been, I would argue that the acceleration has been even quicker.

4/ Netflix and Disney were eating Hollywood's lunch before the pandemic. Now, there might as well be no Hollywood. Amazon was already slowly crushing retail chains and turning shopping centers into ghost towns. Now, there is nothing but Amazon. The list goes on.

5/ But the great change acceleration isn’t limited to business and economics. It’s taking place in our personal lives as well.

6/ Relationships have been accelerated. People who only recently started dating find themselves more or less forced to move in together, whether they are mentally ready to or not. Marriages with fissures have seen their foundations broken wide open by the stress.

7/ Relationships that were on the mend, given uninterrupted months of proximity and intimacy, have found themselves unexpectedly healed and repaired. Friendships that were deteriorating have dropped by the wayside and friendships that were ascendant have taken their place.

8/ It is a paradox. Our lives have been paused, yet our emotional and cultural changes have accelerated. Kids are forced to grow up faster. Parents are forced to sacrifice far more and do it far sooner than they ever imagined.

9/ The erosion of trust in media and governments has accelerated. Polarization has found a sixth gear. Bloated bureaucracies are failing and cronyism is being exposed faster and more frequently than ever before. Disinformation and propaganda are proliferating more than ever.

10/ Vladimir Lenin said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” Get ready. Our technocratic future will be here much sooner than we thought.