
Abstract
Some of the most useful inventions were largely accidental. Alexander Flemingโs discovery of penicillin is a famous example. In 1928, he came home from vacation and found that a mysterious mold had killed some Staphylococcus bacteria heโd been growing in his messy lab. Alexander himself described the discovery as accidental. But as a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WWI, heโd seen countless soldiers die of sepsis, and so he made it his goal to find antibacterial substances. Even if the mold werenโt the direct outcome of a deliberate experiment, it solved a consequential problem that had been on Alexanderโs mind for over a decade.
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, as the world rushes to squelch this virus, we are also undergoing a forced experiment in rapid digitalization. Right now weโre in the โmessy middleโ โ to borrow a phrase from Adobeโs own Scott Belsky. But at some point weโll be able to look back and list all the useful technologies and practices that emerged during the pandemic. Many of them will solve short-term problems arising from the crisis itself โ and some will also move us closer to solving other problems weโve been thinking about for years. If weโre lucky, a few may be in the league of Alexanderโs discovery of penicillin, which transformed modern medicine.
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