A Contrasting of the Pernicious and the Salubrious: An Assessment of the Global Impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic on Technology and Information.

Abstract

In this paper, we do an assessment of the global impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on Technology and Information. Technology is assessed through the indicators of Robotics, 3 D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial intelligence (AI) and Biotechnology. Information is assessed through the indicators of Access/Privacy, Data growth, False news and social media and Knowledge and learning. There has been a heightened interest in Robotics due to public health and labour shortages. In the long term, this could translate into increased replacement of human labour across sectors like agriculture, food and healthcare. The pandemic has stimulated rapid manufacture of medical components through the accelerated adoption of 3D printing technology. Going forward, there is a high probability of an accelerated replacement of traditional manufacturing processes with 3D printing technologies. This is more so in healthcare. IoT usage remains high in the pandemic. Certain sectors have witnessed dramatic increments in quantums of data flows. Going forward, there will be an increased dependence on IoT in everyday use. This will be particularly true for health monitoring and surveillance. The pandemic has seen a massive uptick in the adoption of AI chatbots and other AI applications.In the long term, AI will see increased spending on Research and Development. Adoption timelines will shorten. In hot pursuit of the development of Covid 19 related vaccines and therapeutics, the synthetic biology industry has seen a surge in investment. In the long run, the global competition for leadership in biotechnology will only become more fierce. The pandemic has broadened the use of digital surveillance. Going forward, companies and countries will likely expand digital surveillance. Social and commercial activities have seen digitalisation on a large scale. The future is likely to see a significant shift to an online first culture and an increase in the rate of growth of data volume. The pandemic has facilitated the creation of a fertile environment for fake news. Going ahead, there are heightened prospects of an intensification of the existing geopolitical competition in misinformation. The pandemic has widened the adoption of online learning. Moving ahead, this could have the unfortunate consequence of widening the existing digital divide in society, which in turn could perpetuate inequity.