May 13, 2020
In her new report for The Intercept on the “Screen New Deal,” Naomi Klein looks at how the future we’re being rushed into by the coronavirus pandemic could transform our lives by making elements of daily life under quarantine permanent, in order to benefit billionaires in the tech industry. Klein examines the case of New York, where state officials are courting tech billionaires like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former mayor Michael Bloomberg to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis through public-private partnerships. “They see huge opportunities in telehealth, in the educational market in public schools, in supporting us working from home,” says Klein. “They’re not looking for a traditional reopening, but rather a new paradigm where the privileged classes who are able to isolate themselves basically get everything … either delivered through digital streaming or by drone.”
Transition Studies 