How will coronavirus change the world?

This position holds that coronavirus will reshape global politics. It maps the possibilities — that the pandemic could dent individualism, test the case for globalisation, normalise greater state involvement in economies, swing the 2020 US election, and fuel isolationism and nationalism.

This position holds that coronavirus will have a pivotal impact on the climate crisis. It weighs both directions — that the pandemic's disruption to travel and industry could help mitigate climate change, or that its economic fallout and shifting priorities could end up making it worse.

This position holds that coronavirus will have significant social effects. It points to a likely surge in fake news, a transformed hygiene culture, greater appreciation for health workers, intensified racism, frayed social bonds, and perhaps the end of the social kiss and handshake.

This position holds that coronavirus will have severe economic effects, already being felt. It argues that the pandemic could devastate the global economy at large, and that it threatens to crash the precarious gig economy in particular, with lasting consequences for how people earn a living.

This position holds that coronavirus will reshape the way we live day to day. Beyond the big picture, it argues the pandemic could end office culture, cut smoking rates, and linger permanently—while some even read it as the start of a biblical apocalypse.