ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY MODULE 2

GE 7 SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY LESSON 4

PARADIGM SHIFT AND
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The COVID-19 Paradigm Shift—From Values to Careers to Whole Economies

By: Joan Michelson

Paradigm Shift: “an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking
about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way”

The 1918 pandemic. The Great Depression. World War II. September 11, 2001.
COVID-19. Paradigm shifts come along maybe once in a generation. They create a
profound realignment across the globe, across industries, across economies and
across populations.

As the famed physicist Thomas Kuhn defined it in his seminal 1962 book, The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, “Paradigm shifts arise when the dominant
paradigm under which normal science operates is rendered incompatible with new
phenomena, facilitating the adoption of a new theory or paradigm.” As a physicist,
Thomas Kuhn applied the term to science, but his definition now applies to any
established system, whether scientific, governmental, socio-economic or way of
thinking.

COVID-19 is creating a paradigm shift that is realigning every system in every

industry across the global at once – in an instant.

This 21st century pandemic is forcing us to redefine what and who we value, how we
govern, whose opinions we listen to, how we view facts and science, and even our
relationships. Much of society used to focus on status, power, wealth and celebrity.
Then came COVID-19.

Our 21st century tools and technologies that seem to work miracles and make us
feel invincible and powerful, are practically defenseless in the face of COVID-19. We
are left with only the primitive weapons of cloth masks and keeping our distance.

We are accustomed to seeing our foes, hearing approaching danger, sensing

something wrong, running to safety in the arms of a beloved. Then came COVID-19
– invisible, undetectable by any human senses. And, we may not be safe running
into the arms of that beloved – or they may not be safe with us because we may be
an unwitting carrier – for the moment.

Here are specific ways I see COVID-19 creating a major paradigm shift:

1. Competition?:
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THE COVID PARADIGM SHIFT
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY MODULE 2
GE 7 SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY LESSON 4
PARADIGM SHIFT AND
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Competitors were in their corners, battling out for market share or geopolitical
power and dominance. Then came COVID-19. Strongmen turn out to be the frail
figure of Oz behind the curtain unable to govern or inspire greatness.
Competitors, from countries to companies, are coming together to literally save
our lives as never before. Borders and boundaries that were previously
impermeable are suddenly fungible and processes that were etched in stone are
suddenly made of clay.

We feel how dependent we are on each other. People across the planet have
shown we can come together to solve the world’s most intractable problems
when we want to – even when our governments seem way out gunned by
COVID-19.

Will climate change be the next challenge we embrace together, now that we can
see the clear skies and waters again with greater appreciation?

2. Resource constraints?:

“There is enough.” As Buckminster Fuller, futurist, famed architect, and creator

of the geodesic dome said, there is enough of every resource for everyone on the
planet; it’s just a matter of distribution. We are experiencing that now, watching
sharing be taken to an entirely new level to manage COVID-19.

As countries share ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) to save

lives today, we see Fuller’s vision in real time.

3.“Essential”:

Where we once dismissed people who bag our groceries, or drive our kids’
school buses, for example, now we realize they are “essential workers.” Where
once we “needed” to go out to dinner, to meet with a client or prospect, now we
realize we can accomplish what we need to virtually. We miss seeing people in
person, and we will again soon enough, but we are learning to create connection
in other meaningful ways.

4. Authenticity:

With literally everyone working from home and only “seeing” each other on Zoom
or Skype, how we look, what we wear, and the usual vanity concerns are out the
window. Everyone is more authentic. Everyone is struggling in their own way
through this pandemic and it’s humanizing, equalizing.

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THE COVID PARADIGM SHIFT
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY MODULE 2
GE 7 SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY LESSON 4
PARADIGM SHIFT AND
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

5. Leadership and management:

The way women lead was (still) being undervalued and dismissed as “too soft” or
second-rate in many powerful circles. Women’s rights were being chipped away
at one-by-one by legislation and oppressive cultural mores were returning. Then
came COVID-19.

The leadership and management that are proving most effective in this crisis –
collaboration, resourcefulness, communication, listening, building coalitions of
diverse points of view and expertise, transparency – has historically been associated
with how women lead. The world leaders who have been most effective either have
been women, such as the Prime Minister of New Zealand, or are men taking a page
from this leadership model, such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The
creator of the COVID-19 tracker that keeps the world abreast of its impact is a
woman, Lauren Gardner, co-director of Hopkins’s Center for Civil and Systems
Engineering, and all their divisions involved in this vital resource are led by
women: epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo, senior data scientist Tamara Goyea, and
Beth Bauer, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Centers for Civic Impact.

Women are the majority force in the healthcare battalions keeping us and our loved
ones alive and giving comfort to those who lose their battles in our absence. Women
are homeschooling their kids even while they work from home, or try to replace a job
lost to the economic shutdown.

There are many more shifts occurring from COVID-19 – from a greater appreciation
for nature, to more kindness and compassion, a clearer sense of how we spend our
time, to careers and businesses.

With so many thought processes, systems, habits and ways of thinking about and
valuing things upended, we are indeed in the midst of a profound paradigm shift.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary. Everything seems in flux. That’s what paradigm shifts
do. My good friend Doria Cordova, CEO of Excellerated Business Schools for
Entrepreneurs, says this triggers fear, “that fear can be handled in different ways,”
and offers valuable counsel on how to cope with this combination of internal and
external disruption in this video.

Let’s hope we emerge from COVID-19 closer to Fuller’s vision to: “Make the world
work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous
cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.”

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