‘Post-coronavirus world will be even more digital: UN Chief Antonio Guterres

United Nations: The post-coronavirus world will be different and much more digital than before, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “One thing that’s clear is that we’re seeing the mass digitalization of human relations with the crisis, and that will have an inevitable impact,” Guterres told Efe news in a telephonic interview.

“The future will be much more digital than the past. This is going to provide a major impetus for the development of artificial intelligence, for the development of all the cyberspace activities,” he added.

The flip side, he cautioned, was that there would be a much greater need to create “regulation and other mechanisms so all that development of the digital world is done for the benefit of humanity and that the risks that exist, and are well known, can be avoided”.

“One of the risks, naturally, is that this illness will create societal control mechanisms that can help dictatorships, which naturally we have to try to avoid in the future,” Guterres said.

Another impact of the fight against the coronavirus, at least in the short term, is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the confinement measures and the abrupt halt to economic activity in many parts of the globe.

In that regard, Guterres said the world must “use this opportunity to provide a very strong push toward sustainable development” and toward meeting the established climate targets, although he stressed that no virus can solve the climate crisis.

In the current battle against the coronavirus pandemic, the UN Secretary-General said what has most concerned him is the lack of coordination he has seen among countries. (IANS)

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