Moving Forward On A Path To Social And Economic Recovery

THE LAST THREE MONTHS WERE largely dominated with negativity; it started with the conflict in Ukraine that had a cascading impact on food shortage, supply chains, equity markets, commodities and currencies.

- RAKESH WAHI

The vulnerability of the crypto market was exposed as billions of dollars of value disappeared into the abyss of the dark web; a domain of which I only have a peripheral view. When the world of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies and the ubiquity of the blockchain was becoming fashionable, I nostalgically reflected on my late father’s forlorn look when he struggled with what was the start of the internet era in the late 1990s. He was getting to 70 at that time and right until he passed in 2017, and despite his two engineering degrees and numerous doctorates, he grappled to align his education and experience with the world of internet.

The transition between his generation and mine was relatively gradual. Our generation (Boomers) also grew up using log tables, the slide rule (analog computer) was just getting phased out and calculators had just surfaced. From a consumer perspective, nothing earth-shattering happened between the 1960s and 1980s other than the travel industry that was revolutionized by the commercialization of aircraft and satellite television; so while we could reach places faster and watch color TV at home, we were quite satisfied with the linear pace of life including but not limited to the regular postal service that took 15 days to get a reply to a letter or travelers cheques when we traveled as credit cards didn’t exist.

In comparison, I was in a lift with three other people the other day and each one was frantically messaging as though their life depended on a response that could not wait until after disembarking from the elevator. I find it very difficult to even imagine the world we grew up in.