…a solitary world
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Aristotle observed that man was a “social” animal. He would’ve cogitated on what he knew about Greek civilisation – and even the older Egyptian one – to arrive at that conclusion. And we know that, from the lifestyle of his cousins the chimpanzees, his forbears Hominini (including Australopithecus) even before becoming “man”, were TRIBAL. And nothing since has altered the truth of that statement. After all, why should it?? Social living created “culture”, which made us survive in new environments even better than in our natural evolutionary DNA inheritance. Until possibly now, with COVID-19.
From what we’re witnessing, being “social” in this pandemic would actually INCREASE our chance of getting killed, rather than help us to survive! Think about it: every time we come into contact with another human being, we exponentially increase or chances of becoming infected with the virus!! What this means is that sociability as we know it – to gather and “feel and touch” – isn’t an evolutionary benefit any longer, but the opposite!
Now, you may be saying your Eyewitness has become a real “Chicken Little”. You know, running around…crying, “The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!” and whipping you poor readers into mass hysteria! But listen, there’s no guarantee that this COVID-19 virus is going away any time soon – if ever. As he’s been saying, we know for a fact that, say, the common cold – which is caused by a virus – has become “common” because it’s caused by a virus that just doesn’t disappear. Because it’s more a nuisance than anything else, we don’t worry about it.
But then there’s the flu (or influenza). This is also caused by a virus, but can cause fatalities in enough instances in the elderly to cause worry. As such, vaccines have been made to fight it, but those vaccines have to be modified annually because of the mutant variations of the influenza virus. And we come to COVID- 19, which causes waaaay more deaths than the flu, and for which we now have half-a-dozen vaccines. Even if those work, we know they’re going to be temporary, since they’re not necessarily going to be effective against the inevitable variants that will pop up year after year. For example, the AstraZeneca vaccine was shown to be ineffective against a South African variant, and South Africa had to send their 1m doses back to India.
So where does this leave our species as a “social” animal? Frankly, even after we have been vaccinated, we’ll have to cut back on our personal interactions, and confine them to other persons who’re certifiably vetted as not carriers of new variants of COVID-19.
It’s a new world, baby!
…new socialisation patterns
So, does this mean we’ll become a world of hermits huddling over solitary fires to ensure we don’t pick up COVID-19 viruses? Not really. But you’d never know if you’re in Guyana, where even though the rates of infection and, more pertinently, deaths are skyrocketing, folks are partying. Your Eyewitness has seen the future and – to a great extent – it’s heavily virtual!
Take having to go to work in offices. This would become so curtailed that it would be the exception rather than the rule. Our technology has already provided us with the ability to work out of our homes – and this technology is improving by leaps and bounds. And 5-G isn’t even here yet! Zoom is only one platform, and we can envisage that this would become so enhanced that we’ll soon be able to interact with others in 3-D.
And it won’t be confined to office-to-home communications! Can you see anyone walking without a phone glued to his ears in any metropolitan city street?
That’s the new socialisation!
…new world order
The developed world kept the old Imperial argument that they were looking out for us poor natives since we’re all one family.
But COVID-19 has exposed the truth, that it’s really “us against them”!
