Alec Hogg: Yuval Harari – lessons from Covid-19
Since reading his brilliant Sapiens, I've followed anything emanating from the gifted mind of Israeli historian and author Yuval Harari (above). So I was delighted to read a lengthy treatise in the Weekend FT where he shared some ideas about Covid-19 – and what the world has learnt from the pandemic.
He admires the way scientists have pulled together. Says they've collaborated across borders to accelerate mankind's understanding of the threat and how to deal with it. In stark contrast, he reckons, to politicians who "tended to fued" and "failed to form an international alliance" that could have prevented many deaths.
Harari refers to three big lessons: 1) The digital infrastructure which has been the world's salvation must be safeguarded. 2) Each country needs to invest in its public health system; and 3) Mankind must recognise the age-old war between human and pathogens and establish a global system to monitor and prevent pandemics.
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