FightBack Now

The world is changing. That’s nothing new, of course. But here’s the thing: the world is changing faster than ever before. Some of this is for the better – technological advancements like automation, high-speed internet, and cloud computing have transformed entire industries, allowing humans everywhere to be healthier and more productive.

But some of these big changes will have destructive consequences, and they won’t just impact a single country or industry. They’ll be global issues that require global solutions.

Here’s the key message: The biggest challenges we face call for collaborative and interconnected thinking.

The global spread of COVID-19 has shown how health care and the global economy are deeply connected. When the pandemic swept the planet, stock markets dropped and economies faced years of disruption and uncertainty.

While an extreme example, it won’t be the only one. The world will face an even bigger challenge in the coming decades: extreme climate change. The coming climate breakdown will lead to flooding, food shortages, and political instability due to mass migration across regions. And it could bring pandemics of its own, too – as the arctic tundra melts, it releases bacteria and viruses frozen for centuries. A 2016 anthrax outbreak triggered by melting Siberian permafrost hospitalized 20 people and killed a 12-year-old boy. The question, then, is how do we solve these issues?

The way forward is collaboration and innovation through technology to produce positive, public-oriented growth. The tech world is great at producing innovative companies, but they sometimes become successful by dubious means. Facebook, Amazon, Google, and other tech companies grew rapidly by aggressively moving into unregulated markets and dealing with the consequences later. Uber, for example, launched driver services in new cities and paid fines or negotiated compromises later, after it had already established a foothold.

But while this may work when it comes to growing a social media app, when lives are on the line, tech companies can’t treat regulations like speed limits to be ignored if nobody’s around. Governments and corporations must collaborate, linking government data and administrative capabilities with technological know-how and creativity. This will allow both parties to make full use of their technological and data capacity to create better outcomes. Picture a world where everyone has access to secure and safe telehealth services with AI diagnostics that draw from government databases to find patterns and recommend treatments.