Universities recognized the danger of allowing their students to return from spring break and infect one another and the surrounding communities, and moved classes online. They also marshaled their experts to help inform the public about the risks of the coronavirus; many of us are finding the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center more reliable and on top of the information curve than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are the hallmarks of a horizontal, open society, one that is often inefficient but ultimately more innovative and resilient than closed, top-down systems. That is not to excuse the absence of national leadership; many Americans are likely to die who could have been protected had the nation been better prepared and better led. When people are suffering and dying and a virus is propagating, high-quality, centralized, top-down direction is critical.

Over the longer term, however, we are better off with as much experimentation and as many leaders as possible, not only to spur the kinds of innovations that will protect us from the virus (vaccines, treatments, cheaper and better medical equipment) but also to guide our transition to a very different world.

The coronavirus, and its economic and social fallout, is a time machine to the future. Changes that many of us predicted would happen over decades are instead taking place in the span of weeks.

For example: Many of the universities that managed to move all classes online in little under a week had been resisting online education for years, notwithstanding its obvious benefits in terms of lower costs and greater inclusion. They will now be surprised to discover that online teaching can actually be better than physical classrooms. Why then return to the tyranny of the semester system, in which my professor husband is teaching the same course exactly the same way (two lectures, one discussion section, over 13 weeks) as when I took it in 1978? Universities will instead compete to offer the best blend of residential and virtual education.

We are also suddenly living in a world that the United States government long insisted was impossible — one of drastically reduced plane and car emissions. Here we are at home, connecting to others around the world virtually rather than physically. That is terrible for the airlines but good for the planet. It may be good for us, too. A five-hour conference that I participated in last week matched a physical conference very closely, complete with breakout rooms and individual conversations. I just didn’t have to waste hours traveling to get there.

And now that we’re all at home, what to do with our empty office buildings? Given the housing crises in so many cities, the answer seems obvious. Much commercial real estate could be transformed into apartments. All the municipalities that are imposing moratoriums on evictions should be willing to experiment in the months ahead.