Silver linings, and such

"Sweet are the uses of adversity...."
Shakespeare's words are a good reminder that terrible events can have beneficial consequences.
The worst plague to befall humanity was the Black Death of the 14th century.
No one really knows but it probably wiped out one-fourth to one-half the population of Europe.
Then what happened?
Wealth -- especially land -- fell into the hands of fewer people. Wages and productivity rose. (At different rates in different places, but overall and fairly swiftly.)
The old feudal system began to collapse. The Renaissance got under way. Science, especially medical science, began to make great strides.
Everyone hopes the current pandemic will not prove to be as catastrophic and the economic prospects look terrible at the moment with businesses failing and rising unemployment.
But perhaps, when it is over, there will be benefits for the survivors that we cannot yet calculate.