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Digital Divorce


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 likely to show how digital integration can offer a powerful means for citizens to express their common humanity and enable the best of the human spirit of determination to succeed against the odds. Yet, simultaneously, it is a world where countries will be so scared by their dependence upon others for such basic resources as the manufacture of ventilators, electronic components and food supplies, that they will seek their own ways forward.The global village, as a project, is stalling.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact a global pandemic ought to be fuel for global cooperation. However, just as with ensuring food supplies for your family, the tendency is to look after yourself first. Economists and ecologists call this the prisoners dilemma and the consequences were famously described by Garrett Hardin as The Tragedy of the Commons. Despite the fact that common problems require a common approach to solve them, a shortage of trust leads everyone to look after themselves. The consequences of which are disastrous for all.

We cannot change government, but we can both set an example through our willingness to overcome the prisoners dilemma and use the knowledge that we have to think our way forward, rather than engage our reptilian brains. In short we need to combine the double loop learning of Argris, so that we ask what are the right things, rather than how do we do this right with Snowden’s Cynefin Framework. We need to become effective complexity managers if we are to avoid the chaotic space, where the reactionaries will demand complete authority and lead us down a path that won’t have a happy ending.

How we behave during this crisis will likely define the rest of the twenty first century. Think what legacy you wish to leave to your children. The key is the thinking, not the rushing to action.

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