The pursuit of knowledge in the face of fear: How collaborative knowledge sharing is helping us face down an age-old foe
As the Coronavirus situation worsens around the world, it’s all hands on deck trying to contain the situation and ensure that a global disaster is averted. Whether it’s containing the virus itself or researching a cure, the odds seem to be stacked against those working day and night on the front-lines. But it’s not just the virus that they contend with. In fact, before the world cures this latest threat, it must overcome two problems that have run rampant in times of disaster throughout all of recorded history. Two problems that may seem unrelated, but quickly show their effects when coupled with a suitable threat such as that posed by COVID-19
The first problem is fear.
Fear of the unknown or fear of a future circumstance that may come to pass, a feeling so strong that it’s driven governments into collapse and empires into ruin. Fear is as core to what it means to be human as the ability to think and conceptualise. It’s an emotional reaction to a logically dangerous situation or an unknown stimulus.
Fight or flight has always served to provide humans with a buffer against outside threats, a deep-rooted drive that promotes a desperate need for safety in times of trial.
Yet for many facing the potentially disastrous threat that Coronavirus poses, there is no option to fight. Panic buying of staples such as food and an economic downturn with ongoing effects likened to that of a recession. These situations are proof enough that the only option that humans have in the face of their current fears is, indeed, flight.
The second problem is a lack of knowledge
Delving into the unknown is what has led to some of the greatest achievements that humans have enjoyed throughout both past and recent history. However, what lies beyond the realms of what is known and whether to take the first step towards understanding it, has, and likely always will be ruled once again, by fear.
Now comes the chicken and the egg situation.
Does a lack of knowledge lead to fear, or is it the dread of facing the unknown and learning its secrets that keeps humans from gathering the knowledge necessary to plan for and prevent a pandemic such as COVID-19?
It’s an odd situation to try and piece apart. So much of what has led the human race to exist as they do today is tied to the ability to learn and gather information, with the hope that it will be passed on to the next rightful holder of such knowledge. Yet at many turns throughout history, the inability to put fear aside and follow the pursuit of knowledge in the face of danger or potential recourse has kept humans away from valuable insight.
Insight that may have prevented many of the global catastrophes of the past that are now referred to only as ‘history’. But history, by the hand of humans or by forces outside of their control has proven time and time again that it will repeat itself.
The difference now is that humans are connected online in a way never thought possible even a decade ago.
Where fear and a lack of knowledge once drove humans apart and served only to isolate those who may have had the capacity to help in times of crisis, today it brings them together. Where a problem shared was once a problem halved, the digital domain has proven it can trivialise a problem against a wave of support and collaborative action.
Think of the doctors and healthcare professions sharing their knowledge online and helping to stem exposure to the potentially deadly COVID-19 strain.
Think of the engineers and builders sharing their knowledge in collaborative spaces, advising others and helping build the infrastructure necessary to treat the ill, while also ensuring that future outbreaks can be dealt with and will be less severe.
Think of the academics and scholars, who will come together when the threat of Coronavirus has passed and help put in place the thought and the debate that will ensure the world is ready for another potential pandemic.
It’s clear now that digital collaboration software is the conduit by which this growth is achievable. Because without collaborative knowledge sharing in the digital domain none of this current progress would have been possible. The effects of this are already being felt worldwide, as professionals rush to offer their advice, their time and most importantly their knowledge to help those trapped by the fear and ignorance created by Coronavirus.
COVID-19 will no doubt shake the core of many societies before it is eventually overcome. But the rules of engagement have digitised, and the future looks brighter for it.
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