The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That’s Pulling Apart by Noreena Hertz

I picked this book as the topic that the book is dealing with was considered very important to all of us. In 2022, after around two years of an unprecedented global pandemic, many people feel isolated and lonely. I think that the current COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the changes in our lives which already have begun and continued with the advancement of information technologies. People say we are living, so-called, in the era of the 4th industrial revolution, and we don’t know how we will live in the future, that is, in thirty or forty years later. Somebody expects AI and robots will take many jobs away from humans, and a great majority of future humans, deprived of manpower in physical and mental abilities, can fall into surplus humans. If that happens, can human dignity be maintained as it is now? Unlike such a gloomy picture of the future, some think that humans, freed from obligatory labor with the help of technological innovation, can have more breaks, free times, and choices. However, considering human psychology, humans can feel trapped, powerless, and helpless, even though they have more time and opportunities in the future, as a society becomes more polarized, that is, a few riches monopolize enormous wealth and power. Regardless of the ‘factual’ improvement of an overall standard of living, people just compare their lives with the ones of the upper classes. The things that all people around us enjoy become baseline or default, and we just regard these things as normal, and then we cannot enjoy these things anymore. In this regard, we can say that satisfaction or happiness depends largely on the human mind, and studies on the human mind, for example, psychology, philosophy, and religious study are important to all of us.

In this contactless age, we are actually living in a hyper-connected world. Nearly everything is instantly posted, shared, and people around the world can hear and see the same thing at the same time along with immediately sharing their feelings and thoughts in their own spaces. We became citizens of the world literally. However, Ironically, we lost a community and neighbors. The more often, we move to other regions or nations due to work or education, the less we feel belonged to a community and do not know who lives in the next-door house. As most people live in such a ‘solitary city’, I think we need a few close relationships like family and friends more than ever before. As the author proposed, necessary is the national and institutional effort to sustain or rebuild the local community and increase the chance to meet and do things with people from different backgrounds. As an individual, I think that we should try to build a few intimate relationships in which loving and caring for each other is there. Without that kind of relationship, it is very hard for us to find any meaning in life.

 

Written by Shim G.