What about the world after ? After every war, every global upheaval, we question and try to foresee the fate of everyone involved. Will the Palestinians finally have a nation after the Israel-Gaza war ? Will Russia keep territories after the war in Ukraine ? Post the global COVID-19 health crisis, some optimistically imagined a 'new world.' China would no longer be 'the world's factory.' Western powers would bring essential productions back to their lands. In France, Emmanuel Macron assured that pharmaceutical laboratories would return. Sanofi would produce Doliprane in France... French production of health masks would bear the tricolor!

Remember how the world was confined and how concepts of a post-world, connected through technology, flourished while the stocks of companies enabling this soared ? Three years later, what remains ? Telework has spread but is losing ground: less than 26% of American households have a member working remotely, down from 37% in early 2021. Goldman Sachs is mandating a return to the five-day office week.

The home was once the new eldorado ! Preferring the countryside over city life, the lockdown pushed urbanites to swap apartments for individual houses with gardens. The business of cocooning exploded. Confinement and its derivatives were building new societies and fortunes ! But this 'new world' proved to be an illusion.

The 'after world' closely resembles the one before ! Peloton, the maker of connected indoor bikes, reports financial losses. Its stock has plummeted. Zoom Video Communications trades around $60, down from nearly $500 in late 2020. Docusign lost 85% of its value, HelloFresh more than 75%. WeWork is considering bankruptcy... And Sam Bankman-Fried, the ex-'Golden boy' of cryptocurrency at FTX, has been found guilty on all charges against him!

The world after is a continuation of the world before: humanity is not yet ready to work from home, order pizzas paid in cryptocurrencies from the couch, and ride stationary bikes. Will humanity ever be ready for peace?