How to Think About the World

In the most general terms.

There are two factors to consider here - (1) how difficult the world is to understand, and (2) how capable we are of understanding it.

Both of these are changing - and both can be plotted on the same graph, with time on the horizontal axis, and understanding on the vertical axis.

We can start right now. Are people capable of understanding their world? For most people, the answer is "No." But perhaps that is too general a question.

Perhaps it would better to back up in time and focus on one event - the Iraq War. This involved two groups of people, the Iraqis, led by Saddam - and the Americans, led by President Bush. Neither one, was very bright - and neither one understood the other. The people involved did not understand their situation - and did not realize this.

This is a very common situation - not just a common situation, but a very common situation. And we can generalize on this to say - most people, in most situations - cannot understand their situation.

This settles the situation for most people - but not for the few who do understand the situation - and these always exist. Will they save the world?

This is the answer we are waiting for.