From the editors
WHERE'S ONDO? Words Robert van Overveld, Ondo
Hi, I know this guy from the future who told me that this corona crisis is not as bad as it seems for humanity. His name is Ondo, and he lives in the year 2062. He is quite amazing and has many great stories. This is a transcript of a part of our conversation.
Details transcript: Subject: Future Participants: Ondo and me Date, time and place: May 14, 2020, 7:46 - 8:18 p.m. at Home
Ondo, there are a few other things I wanted to ask. You may recall what happened during spring 2020, the coronavirus that came into existence. Many people are thinking about the implications of this all. Can you give some clarity on the subject, will it change the way we live? Well, I was born in January 2021, which means that I didn't experience it myself. But my parents told me about it, and it was part of my history class. Right, I forgot that you weren't born yet. What did people tell you about it? Well, for starters, yes, it will change the way people live. But the introduction of the internet did as well, many things do. Change is not something rare in the time you and I are living in. But I understand your concerns. I think it might be interesting to discuss some of the implications on both societal level and a more practical level. At least, what I understand from it.
The threat of the coronavirus will stop not long from now, but in the end, corona will make people rethink about the concept of freedom. Many western people are used to a “modern” idea of freedom, the freedom of the individual. It’s about the ability to express yourself, your beliefs, your thoughts, and is also linked to a private and individual existence. Many of the people in your generation are used to this kind of freedom and you think very highly of it. In my time, it became known as, 'small freedom.' Let me explain why. At some point, people will find that the restrictions that are forced upon you awaken the strength of a more ancient concept of freedom. A type of freedom that is connected to the group, the society. If the society you live in is not free, mentally or physically, then neither can you be free as an individual. The common enemy that is standing in front of you, which symbolises the vulnerability of mankind, will awaken a stream of thoughts that remind you of the fact that to be free in a modern perspective, you need to live in a free society. The freedom of the society is what we call, 'big freedom.' It’s not big and small in the way that one is more important than the other. Both of them can not exist without the other really. In the case of the coronavirus, this means that the
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