Frontier Calling
I found this piece by Peggy Noonan on Ken Lay and how the world is different than it once was fascinating not because of the sympathy it exudes or the excellent point it makes, but because of what it says about a lack of frontiers.
Which might not entirely solve the problem, as it’s one of mass communication as much as one of nowhere to go, but we always can use that place to go. It’s in our nature. And not merely for obfuscating past reputations, but for “dropping out” or making a stand for principle.
When there’s debate about the presence of too many eggs in one basket, the probability and extent of civilization-devastating, even species-ending, disasters, and the costs and benefits of acting with a long view toward such probabilities approaching one, that’s entirely beside the point. Exploration and migration are in our nature. Not for everyone, on an individual basis, but for many, and for all the more when the times cry out for it.
The time to start is when that cry is yet a murmer. Can you hear it?
Tom Friedman, in The World is Flat, has been talking about this type of thing too. I.E. The requirement to be “good”, because reputation has gone digital and you never know what database will become searchable. He’s also talks, in the book, about how a lie, or even an honest error can be impossible to eradicate once it gets on the net.
By the way, the book is really worth reading even though it’s quite long compared to his previous work.
Posted by on 07/11 at 09:20 PM
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