My friend Mark McCoy and I speak for an hour fortnightly (or try to!) for no particular reason other than to stay in touch and riff on topics such as adult personal development, integral theory, complexity, postmodernism, AI, population movements. We find it amusing that both our partners have pointed out that the majority of the topics and tangents we're interested in wouldn't fly in polite dinner conversation, and so we find a bit of a haven in these Zoom sessions.
Today's session was no different. Disparate threads of thought were finally woven together as we discussed how post-pandemic social interaction might look like. It started with Mark mentioning an online cohort-based writing course that he's taking, and how it's opened different networks to him.
I've been thinking for a while now that forced or voluntary sheltering at home would supercharge and possibly change the nature of online interactions, but that the shape of it is still emerging. Meeting up physically is either close to impossible or clearly undesirable for a number of reasons, and as social animals, humans need a viable, sustainable alternative as we attempt to navigate our post-pandemic landscapes. On my part, despite being able to socialise since mid last year, I did not find myself in any rush to reconnect with some friends / acquaintances, and the thought of having to do any number of social things now fills me with mild dread.
Online cohort-based courses provide an intriguing form of community and network generation. Super connectors will be able to leverage on existing networks to seed new networks, and like will find like in new communities beyond the usual professional, semi-professional or hobby areas. I'm quite excited to see what emerges.
A riff on this is that people can choose to live in less crowded, more bucolic locales, or even off the beaten track, and still not lose out on existing and future social interactions, and without being bound to HOAs or PTAs or other conventional trappings of suburban life. This has implications for how and where people choose to put down roots. If nothing else, this pandemic has driven home to me the lottery of one's location, and the importance of making a positive impact on the communities you choose to live in.
There is a possible related trend of second or third tier cities competing for talent, or investing more in their own people, as humans seek to reset their locales and their lifestyles. Some gentrification is inevitable, but the revitalisation trade-off in post-industrial areas will be worth it. I also hope travel will become more intentional and less of a status marker, after the initial manic burst when borders reopen. I hope that economies almost entirely dependent on tourism will find ways to diversify and sustain themselves, for the sake of their homes and future generations.
Most of all, I hope that humans will start to view social interactions not as a zero sum game of resource extraction for status, but abundance within networks.
P. S. Mark and I also talked about the rise and fall of great cities and civilisations, but there's enough in there for a separate blog post!