Learning

As the legs come off our world, it is obvious how little we understood it. Or, maybe it is a fact that a world can only be understood when it is in the throes of extinction. A severe crisis lays bare some important aspects of the world, like the global financial crisis of 2008 did. But, an existential crisis forces one to reckon the world in its entirety and ask fundamental questions about its nature and purpose. For instance, how would one explain the fact that Republicans and Tories are outflanking moderate socio-democrats with proposals such as Universal Basic Income? Or, that generational differences map onto ideological differences?
Of course, studying a burning world that you are a part of is not easy at all. It is intellectually stimulating but emotionally draining. On the other hand, it is important to try to keep a sense of equanimity and not go overboard with the hyperboles. It is easy to valorize the present, because of our proximity  to it, to believe that nothing like this has happened before. But, research, like life, is a balance between going overboard, launching flights of fancy and clambering on board, touching the ground from time to time.