A friend sent me a link to a 2010 document that the Rockefeller Foundation produced, called Scenarios for the future of Technology and International Development. Take the time to look it over, please. It is based on a workshop on identifying “critical uncertainties,” and exploring their potential effects on technology and international development. It specifically examines how mankind would adapt to unanticipated shocks over the next 15-20 years.
Flip, if you would, please, to page 18. The lockstep scenario posits a pandemic. It is virulent and, in the model, kills mostly healthy adults, 8 million people globally in 7 months. It describes society coming to a screeching halt, with industries like tourism, travel, local businesses, and offices all closed. In this scenario, the one country that fares best is China, which uses a seemingly admirable totalitarian approach, sealing its country, quarantining all citizens, and swiftly ending its pandemic.
It then describes a world with national leaders imposing draconian rules and restrictions, from face masks to temperature checks. “Even after the pandemic faded, this more authoritarian control and oversight of citizens and their activities stuck and even intensified…leaders around the world took a firmer grip on power.” https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/03/a_decade_ago_a_prescient_thinktank_document_predicted_2020.html
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