The future

Rohan Rajiv made a great point the other day about the story of Moderna.

“Two days after the COVID-19 genetic sequence was released on January 11th, the Moderna vaccine was ready. By the time the first American death from COVID-19 was announced, the vaccine was already manufactured and shipped for its Phase I trial. That vaccine was approved by the FDA today (December 19th). It is a giant leap forward for the Moderna team and for the many scientists and technologists who’ve been championing the potential of biotechnology for over a decade. The future is here.”

Until now, the fastest vaccine ever developed was the Mumps vaccine in four years. The COVID-19 vaccine is already being distributed as this posts and it took a fraction of the time. This pandemic is obviously not over but for many we can imagine a light at the end of the tunnel.

As we close the book to 2020, I just want to thank all of the impresarios making history. Their example has showed us:

When we want to work together, we can solve problems.

I choose to believe (and there is plenty of data to support this) that the future is filled with abundance and the arc bends towards justice. As we look ahead, this won’t be last pandemic we face nor is this the end of a whole slew of challenges that we must face (income inequality, civil injustice, climate change, dark patterns of the internet). And yet…

As time progresses, we also become more efficient at solving problems.