The Adhoc Thinker

The Covid-19 crisis, caused by the affluent elite, is hurting the poor unequally. As the initial shock of the Coronavirus crisis is passing the blame game has started, with China and the US trading insults and the WHO caught in the middle… countercurrents.org Beyond high level political polemics, there is a growing realisation that this crisis is not affecting people equally and that the economic order of things is undergoing rapid change. Undoubtedly the speed of the global spread of the pandemic has been facilitated by a globe-trotting elite. They represent the living face of the globalization of both production and consumption that is as central to economic growth as it has been to ecological decline and viral spread. Reams of paper have been consumed describing the heroic efforts and risks taken by doctors and nurses, with belated recognition of the sacrifices made, for very low pay, by carers and delivery couriers. However, in our rush to buy loo roll we have forg

When species move out of balance with their ecosystem nature seeks to punish and return to balance. From the enlightenment humans have assumed a role as masters of nature; so-called anthropocentric thinking. The separation of humans from the rest of nature is, of course, nonsensical. However, it has been key in our efforts (in the words of McBurney) to stuff all of the worlds ecology into economics and it won’t go! All of our worries about business and economics are really for nothing unless we hear and address what is a clear ecological wake up call to the fact that human behaviour is unsustainable. The idea that humans would destroy the earth was, as noted by Lovelock, always far less likely than we would destroy ourselves; sinking under the weight of our own hubris. Make no mistake, Coronavirus is simply part of a wider ecological alarm call. We either find a way to reset the way we live and organise ourselves, as a species, or we will simply see more extreme wea

The unprecedented events arising from the Coronavirus pandemic has created a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, the need for social distancing is creating a huge swing towards digital delivery of products and services and the replacement of physical meetings with digital platforms. As such, this may well be a defining moment, where the digital economy assumes a driving role in the global economy. On the other hand, as the virus has taken hold national governments have quickly abandoned international cooperation and retreated into national isolation; slamming borders shut, refusing the sharing and export of medical resources and protecting national industries. Nowhere has this been more evident than Europe, with citizens trapped in countries other than their own, as flights are canceled and borders closed. On top of a continent wide trend towards reactionary and nationalistic politics this may well also set the tone for the future. Going forward we face a world which is

The New Nomads The fusion of mobile phones and internet has blurred the distinction between the two and given rise to voice over internet telephony and mobile internet. The resulting culture of mobile communications has taken to the concept of the virtual office to a new level. The culture of self employment gave rise to the explosion of modular space/service flexible business centres during the 1990's. However mobile internet is enabling a growing number of both employed and self employed people to do away with the office almost entirely. Consultants, sales people, designers and marketing executives are all using the portability of laptops and especially mini-laptops combined with mobile internet to work from cafes, literally on the go. This has the triple advantage of reducing costs (coffee is cheaper than monthly floor rental), ensuring employees are connected and exposed to surrounding trends and provides greater autonomy and mastery at the individual