Society’s dynamics are in constant flux and although technology and industry have had an impact in the last 120 years the power of dynasties, nationalism, military conflicts, and climate change amongst others have been shaping our existence for millennia. As have Pandemics! The great con is that we just never noticed these instability drivers in recent times because of an unusually long period of stability post the second world war. Stability over a human lifespan this long is rare indeed. It manifested for several reasons including a military stalemate between two great powers, immensely powerful economic growth to feed a rapidly growing population due to exponentially accelerating technological prowess and globalisation and integration of the global economy. The world population has more than doubled in my lifetime, that’s not a formula for stability. What was ignored was the fact that tightly coupled systems become more unstable as they overrespond to smaller stimuli.