It took a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders for 1.5 billion people worldwide, but something is finally occurring to us: The future we thought we expected may not be the one we get.
We know that things will change; how they’ll change is a mystery. To envision a future altered by coronavirus, Quartz asked dozens of experts for their best predictions on how the world will be different in five years.
Below is an answer from Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president of the European Commission. She was previously the commissioner for competition at the European Commission and held several ministry positions in her native Denmark.
I think a lot of things will be the same. We tend to forget what we promised ourselves. But I think one thing that will stay with us will be that we don’t have to travel so much to have a meeting. I have been using six or seven different video call formats and they all have different qualities and different features, but it has worked very well. Of course, I miss human interaction—an important meeting, a negotiation, you couldn’t do that [remotely]. You need to feel people’s body language, you need a sense of humor. But many meetings can be held remotely. In five years’ time, we will have better tools. People will have realized that they can work remotely, that they don’t have to commute at least one or two days per week. The digital tools we will have to enable that will improve immensely, and I think we will enjoy it.
To read more New Normal answers, click here.