Stefan
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The current COVID-19 pandemic is a disaster on many levels. I am safe, and have a job, and I don’t need to take any unnecessary risks. Many people aren’t that lucky. As we go through these times, we need to prioritize becoming better at tackling issues which threaten the existance of our species on this planet.
Personally I observe some of the effects of the global shelter-in-place orders with a child-like curiosity. I see posts of animals in national parks having a field day and smile, and I shudder when I hear about rats resulting to eating each other in NYC due to the lack of waste they normally devour.
Another aspect which I believe can be interesting is how we start to work globally, but stay hyper local at the same time. I am lucky. My company has long provided a way to work fully remotely (technically). However, my role, and many others, weren’t really lending themselves for working fully remotely. So, while full time remote work is a possibility, it wasn’t what the majority of people working in my area would choose. For one reason or another. Consequences of that include massive concentration of people who want to contribute to solving big problems using science and technology. It was thought that sacrifices such as giving up living close to your parents, or living in your home country are necessary to achieve these goals. Maybe the crisis shows us that this just ain’t so.
Since a couple of weeks I jump on video calls (VCs) with my coworkers as naturally as I would have chatted them up in the micro kitchen at work. Gone is the awkwardness in meetings with many people. People across the leadership chain share personal anecdotes via chat tools, and exchange recipes, or talk about how their dogs and kids are doing. One coworker recently shared his newest acquisition: a massive big-screen TV. He walked me through his living room, we talked where he would mount it, all as an intro to our regular one on one meeting where we brief each other on updates around projects we work on. And it felt amazing. It felt hyper local.
I wonder whether this shows us something: we can be hyper local as humans and individuals. Spend time with our family and friends, stay rooted and grounded, consume local food and goods, and avoid all the negative consequence of business air travel, and shipping goods half way around the globe which would happily grow in our backyard. We could live where land is cheaper, and have more space. All while still being connected and collaborating on global scale problems. It would be a first version – an experiment – of how the next step of our socio-economic system could function. Many people love the local aspect. They tell me this is so much better than the drag of commuting each day 2-3 hours, in packed trains or on crowded busses. They tell me their pets and kids are full of joy that they can spend so much time with their owners and parents. And I believe it. As I am isolated here in the Bay Area, I realize how much I miss my family. And while I am so so excited to work on big scale problems as an amazing company, I dare to hope that one day we could have it both.
