Brave New World
The advent of COVID-19 is so timely, one could feel justified to suspect a conspiracy. I don’t, but it is as if the purveyors of everything Internet and virtual and robotic had come up with the perfect way to monopolize human life. That trend had already been fast afoot, of course, what with all of us glued to our monitors, laptops, and phones at work and at play, robots and expert systems ready to replace workers of every color collar, and self-driving vehicles and drones available to deliver all of our needs to our doorstep. But now comes a virus that no one has yet developed a vaccine or cure for to scare us all into staying home, or put us into mandatory quarantine. No more going to work or school, no more cruising or jetting to other cities or foreign shores, no more local shopping, no more concerts or theatre or parades, you name it. Nowhere to go and nothing to do but stay at home if at all possible. Another conspiracy one might concoct to account for ...