Yuval Noah Harari on the challenges of the post-COVID-19 crisis world

"The coronavirus epidemic is ... a major test of citizenship." - Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari

Not such a surprising statement, although none of us yet know the full implications of it.

In The world after coronavirus Financial Times 03/20/2020, Harari reminds of a long-running human problem: how a state of emergency (to use Carl Schmitt's infamous term) can be used to create more authoritarian government including outright dictatorship.

He makes a very valid liberal-democratic argument that a well-informed citizenry that has a government they can trust and that provides reliable information needs less surveillance and coercrion that one they don't or can't trust:

Centralised monitoring and harsh punishments aren’t the only way to make people comply with beneficial guidelines. When people are told the scientific facts, and when people trust public authorities to tell them these facts, citizens can do the right thing even without a Big Brother watching over their shoulders. A self-motivated and well-informed population is usually far more powerful and effective than a policed, ignorant population.

Consider, for example, washing your hands with soap. This has been one of the greatest advances ever in human hygiene. This simple action saves millions of lives every year. While we take it for granted, it was only in the 19th century that scientists discovered the importance of washing hands with soap. Previously, even doctors and nurses proceeded from one surgical operation to the next without washing their hands. Today billions of people daily wash their hands, not because they are afraid of the soap police, but rather because they understand the facts. I wash my hands with soap because I have heard of viruses and bacteria, I understand that these tiny organisms cause diseases, and I know that soap can remove them. [my emphasis]

In the immediate crisis he sees two important choices. The first is an individual one: "each one of us should choose to trust scientific data and healthcare experts over unfounded conspiracy theories and selfserving politicians."

The second is a more collective one for citizens and governments: "The second important choice we confront is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Both the epidemic itself and the resulting economic crisis are global problems. They can be solved effectively only by global co-operation."