People are dying.

Rapidly.

Exponentially.

As I write this, nearly three times the number of humans that died in 9/11 have lost their lives to Covid-19. By the time I hit publish, who knows where it’ll be. And the most frightening part is: it’s just getting started.

If you are a human living on the planet Earth, odds are that your life today is substantially different than it was back in 2019. Back then, at least where I live, the top issue was whether our high-schoolers were getting enough sleep. Can anyone sleep now?

The worst part is that this virus is just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it lurks exacerbating economic repercussions that could make 2008 look like a bull market. People are already losing their jobs, jobs they need to climb the first two stairs of Maslow’s Hierarchy: food and shelter. And for many of us, this is just day three.

We are afraid. And those who aren’t terrified are pissed that everyone else is.

The thing about fear is that it’s a foundational emotion. Until recently, being afraid meant death could be imminent, so we better do something about it: fight or flight. Prior to this, somebody giving you a dirty look or cutting you off in traffic were some of the more likely triggers to fear. Now, it’s death again.

Living in this globally and instantaneously interconnected society is a brand new concept for us modern humans. Modern humans who still rely on the same underlying architecture as when we were fish.

And so, we are afraid.

We’re afraid because we feel helpless. So, we do what we’ve been trained to do: scroll in social media and blame the other team, liking what we agree with and ignoring what we don’t. Pushing us deeper into our tribes and further from the cure.

We’re afraid because our leaders aren’t doing enough. And for every step forward, we take two back, traveling down the same old roads that failed us previously. And as dark clouds roll in, the calm before the storm is quickly becoming more tumultuous.

We feel powerless. But we are not.

We must act immediately, in a globally coordinated way. It’s time for us people to take the future back into our own hands. The future that we have always created. The future that we must save.

We live in a unique point in human history for three reasons: the world has a common foe; we are globally interdependent; and we have the tools to win.

We can do much more than washing our hands. Understand, every human accomplishment, from building the pyramids to inventing the internet and walking on the moon, was accomplished by regular people working together to achieve extraordinary goals.

A team is significantly greater than the sum of its parts. And with a potential team of billions, I like our chances. It is time for every person of every gender, every age, every race, every nationality to do their part. We can and we will get through this, but only if we work together. The road ahead will not be easy, however doing nothing will be much harder.

There is a bright silver lining to these foreboding clouds. We now exist in a period of rapid, forced evolution. Confined to our homes, hidden away from strangers, we have the tools at our fingertips to change the world. We have the opportunity and the privilege to be the cure for:

Virtual Life

Healthcare

Science

Basic Income

Food & Shelter

Logistics & Delivery

Disinfection

Mental Health

Education

Economics

Art

It is our responsibility to be the cure to solve not just this virus but for all similar epidemics waiting to crash over the world. Technology can be miraculous, however things like robotics, automation and artificial intelligence can have devastating side effects. Let’s use this as an opportunity to solve them all once and for all.

Today, the world is at war.

Tomorrow, let’s Be The Cure.