The Finite Ecstasy of Ignorance

Concerns about societal decline and the behavior of younger generations have been expressed across many ancient cultures. Thousands of generations have looked at their spawn and despaired. Certainly, a few minutes on TikTok makes me feel despondent.

Despite millennia of hand-wringing, humanity has survived and apparently flourished, at least from a biological point of view. So what’s the Big Deal? Well, let’s start by listening to what the ancients have said to us over the eons.

In the Instructi...