Horns of Our Dilemma

Many times in the months since March 2020, the politicians, pundits, and boosters have assured us that the pandemic presents us, if we squint hard enough, with a golden opportunity. The mounting misery offers the chance to build back better — whatever that means. Usually, the “building back better” crowd flesh out their slogan by itemizing rousingly ambitious projects that have long filled the dreams of policy wonks: investments in housing, education, infrastructure, and renewable energy, along with the creation of new jobs in the green economy. These are, to be sure, worthy and wonderful initiatives. Yet the fact that nearly all of these ideas long predate the arrival of COVID‑19, however world-historical this moment may be, is somewhat deflating: we’ve heard it all before.

Will any truly new, previously unthought ideas arise from our current upheaval? It’s still too soon to tell. Nevertheless, we assure ourselves that something original and previously unthinkable...