To understand why the world feels fractured, we must look at incentives. Not conceptual incentives — “you and I believe the same thing” — but material incentives: will we individually, materially, and quantifiably gain or lose from this action or inaction?
Fifty years before you knew his name, Robert Mueller volunteered to fight, and potentially die, in a foreign land. The Vietnam War — his war — would guide his path long after it was over.
If you’ve ever taught a class — or tried to have a spontaneous human moment with someone eyes-deep on their phone — you know that it is nearly impossible to break the Facebook-Twitter-Instagram time and focus monopoly.