Future Shock, introducing the idea that social paralysis is induced by rapid technological change. A widespread feeling of “too much change in too short a period of time" is a perfect description of 2020, induced not by technology, but a strand of RNA wrapped up in a layer of protein and fat.Could this happen again?
Absolutely. With our warming planet, future outbreaks caused by known and unknown pathogens are a near certainty; just the location and timing are unpredictable.
Increasing urbanization, characterized in India by slums, rapid ecological changes and unpredictable weather patterns, apart from increased internal migration and international travel, will make epidemics more frequent, complicated to handle, and very hard to prevent.