Hubrecht was widely criticized by the families of privilege who were disenfranchised by his actions. He was viewed as a controversial figure by other lords and was not entirely trusted by the peasants.

A decade later, not only was productivity restored, but farm production far exceeded pre-pandemic levels. 

Hubrecht significantly increased the rents he charged for the land. He soon was sufficiently wealthy that he could build castles. It is likely that these reforms would have eventually occurred anyway, but reform was hastened by the plague and the economic necessity of dealing with its aftermath. 

While this may be an interesting story in its own right, there are parallels today. 

We live in a world where socioeconomic trends are changing society. One of our biggest challenges is how we will migrate from an industrialized society to a technologically based society. 

Technology is altering our economic landscape by replacing human labor with cyber capacity. Whenever major socioeconomic changes occur, wealth becomes concentrated and many people are left behind. History tells us that this is a recipe for social unrest that will lead to changes in societal norms. 

Much has been written about these trends, which were expected to evolve over several decades. 

The current pandemic has accelerated these trends. Just think about how different your life is from last year. Are you making greater use of technology? Do you shop more online instead of going to brick-and-mortar retailers? 

Institutions that are unable to adapt to the new technological paradigm will cease to exist. Their extinction is hastened by the pandemic.

Although we tend to look at these trends societally, there is an individual component to this phenomenon because each of us is impacted by the resulting changes.

This is demonstrated by a pandemic-related impact on my family about 100 years ago. 

My maternal grandfather came from a family of wealth, but he had no business acumen. At the close of World War I, he was seen as a failure and had no further business opportunities.