The great accelerator
A week ago I wrote that Covid-19 is quickly becoming the great equalizer. Today I started reading a new book, Post Corona, from Crisis to Opportunity, by Scott Galloway.
He starts the book with two theses. First, the pandemic’s most enduring impact will be as an accelerant. Second, in any crisis there is opportunity; the greater and more disruptive the crisis, the greater the opportunities.
As exhibit A, prof G points to the recent and large changes in e-commerce, video conferencing, tele-healthcare and grocery delivery.
I am only at the beginning of the book. There may be other examples later-on. Yet, I wonder what changes Covid-19 will be accelerating in two specific areas.
First, we need a change in how we share information and news.
Thomas Jefferson wrote:
An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.
The recent years have shown that an educated citizenry we are not. Knowing what is fact from fiction has become much harder. When you listen to the Whitehouse press briefings, you even wonder what the title journalist still stands for.
I sense we are on the cusp of a major change in how we write, fact check and distribute the news. Content moderation at Twitter*, YouTube and Facebook are still using training wheels. Fox News appears to realize after so many years, that lies and deceit may be bad for business*. Yet, the answer to the question what information can we trust, is not always clear to me.
The second area I wonder about is infrastructure. The United States is due for a major overhaul and investment in our infrastructure: roads, tunnels, bridges, energy distribution, and high-speed internet access.
Elon Musk is leading the way on multiple fronts. There are the Tesla Powerwall, Solar Roof and panels. Starlink is bringing internet to previously hard to reach areas of the United States. The Boring Company makes tunneling easier. Another Musk brainchild is Hyperloop. Virgin Hyperloop demonstrated on Nov 8, 2020 the first passengers traveling safely on a hyperloop. However, the first true applications will be outside of the United States. As trains don’t deal well with sand, the first hyperloop project will be in Abu Dhabi, and eventually to Dubai. The first hyper loop project in the US may be the Great Lakes project and connect Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Its timeline is unclear to me.
Nevertheless, Elon Musk is only one person. Jeff Bezos focusses his billions on e-commerce, distribution (planes, vans, warehouses) and groceries. Bill Gates is looking at education, global health, fighting infectious diseases, and a new nuclear reactor design, through the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and TerraPower. The Google guys have the X moonshot company with some really interesting projects. Some infrastructure-related projects are Taara and Loon to provide internet access, Makani and Dandelion in the energy generation space, and Waemo self-driving taxis.
Which other billionaire is pouring in money to accelerate a better US infrastructure? How much is the US government investing? Covid-19 will change where we work from, where we travel and how travel. It is another major opportunity to pay close attention to.