Why not self-isolate permanently?
It must be said that self-isolation and social distancing have not had much impact on me personally. I have never been that keen on going out or mixing with people. However, in the current extremely hazardous situation, it seems appropriate to reflect on how it can be applied not just for my own benefit, but also for the advantage of society as a whole.
To this end, I would propose that even in the unlikely case of victory over the virus, no announcement to this effect should be made. On the contrary, the information should be classified and gradually it should be planted in the public’s mind that the epidemic is invincible and will be with us in perpetuity.
Why is this needed, you ask? First, the epidemic has accelerated deglobalisation. We can call this a return to normal life, abandoning the pseudo-unity and pseudo-unanimity imposed upon us by international financial circles. Borders are closed, transport links with other countries suspended — even movement internally between regions is prohibited.
We are returning to genuine diversity. Issues of environmental pollution will also be resolved as industry grinds to a halt. We will not even need to follow Thoreau into the woods. Wild animals will return to depopulated cities, pouncing on self-isolating citizens on their way to the shops, which will also help to manage the problem of overpopulation of the planet. Friends of Greta will be pleased. Thus, the epidemic has mapped our escape route from the most severe international collapse and civilisational crisis, pulling us back from the brink.
Turning to domestic politics, I will focus on Russia, although to some extent the same applies to any country. Russia’s leadership, right up until the onset of the epidemic, was trying to find a means of preserving the country’s long-proclaimed stability. It is, of course, clear that the epidemic provides the perfect pretext for introducing controls over citizens that are necessary for stability. This includes honing methods for the control of people’s movements using new technologies (video surveillance, facial recognition technologies, QR codes, drones etc.), tracking the contacts of every infected person and isolating all with whom they have come into contact (successfully applied in China, Korea and Taiwan), and mass testing for the virus.
After all, viruses are not necessarily biological, they can also carry harmful ideologies that require particularly complex testing and similar methods of suppression. The system must be preserved — this is clear to everyone and even goes without saying. However, simple forms of control will not solve the fundamental problems of society; preserving the epidemic presents the opportunity to resolve them once and for all.
For this, all that is required is not to cancel the epidemic and to maintain the current self-isolation regime in perpetuity. One might think that it would harm the economy, but that is not the case. On the contrary, the economy would become much more modern, while the political situation would be permanently stable. It would be particularly easy to introduce the new system in Russia, a large part of whose economy involves the export of natural resources.
So, citizens — stay at home forever. Of course, many industries would have to be closed, but in Russia nothing much is being manufactured in any case. The export of natural resources would have to be maintained, all other production could be closed and citizens subsidised out of resource export revenues, i.e. their wages preserved.
In essence, Russia’s economy already works in this way with millions of citizens leaving their homes every day and doing something completely economically unnecessary just to keep themselves occupied and for appearance’s sake. Therefore, from an economic point of view there would be little change. The only problem would be that out of boredom from sitting at home people could get all sorts of dangerous ideas into their heads. Therefore, a strict regime of self-isolation would have to be observed, while home entertainments would have to be developed.
Leaving one’s residence without authorisation should be declared a serious crime and for several such offences citizens should be sentenced to long-term forced labour in the mineral extraction sector. This would resolve the problem of staffing. At the same time, it would be necessary to develop the online services sector: movies, theatres, music, games, television shows (including pornographic, horror etc.); home delivery of food and other services (including erotic); rubbish/trash removal; home refurbishment without the necessity to leave one’s home. There would be no need to block the Internet, no need for censorship — let people watch whatever they want. Their opinions are irrelevant if they cannot go out on the streets. The only thing that would need to be rigidly blocked would be all information regarding the epidemic’s alleged demise.
Of course, some citizens would still need to go out to work, but these would be special categories with special state permission and passes, engaged in specific areas such as law and order (enforcing self-isolation), services (making self-isolation acceptable and even enjoyable) and IT (providing communications etc. for the self-isolated).
This ideal world would fully correspond with the dreams of the most advanced philosophers and economists in Russia and the world. Just imagine — all services are online. All banking operations from home; education through online lessons and lectures; conferences via Zoom; academic works, novels and poems all in electronic form.
In fact, it wouldn’t matter whether you had acquired knowledge or not; all the same, you would be sitting at home without much opportunity to apply it. Opposition by Telegram! Love via Skype! And, of course, total democracy. All elections would be held online and the results counted by robots. There would be many parties, including opposition parties, actively arguing about how best to ensure self-isolation and fight the epidemic.
There would be a virtual parliament, virtual courts and a virtual prosecutor’s office, which would circulate their decisions via telegram channels and would be staffed remotely. Online culture would flourish. In addition to stability, all this would provide huge economies on office space, transport, road construction etc. Oil and gas should suffice. And then one could sell air (since there would be little or no industrial pollution) and water from Lake Baikal.
I propose to give all this serious thought. I won’t give my address, but I think the appropriate authorities will be able find it soon.
