Part OneMay You Live in Interesting Times
The Chinese have an idiom. Loosely translated, it says that it’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than a man in a chaotic time. There’s also a related curse, also often attributed to the Chinese: “May you live in interesting times.”
This, in a snapshot, is our world. Our time is one where drones can assassinate someone half-way around the globe, controlled by people on a TV screen from the safety of their own suburb. This is a time where a tiny failed bank in Greece can potentially bring the entire global financial system to a screeching halt, bankrupting nations. It is a time where one can carry the entire Library of Congress on a chip smaller than one’s fingernail and still have storage to spare. And it is a time where cars drive themselves, glasses contain computers, and 3D printers can create duplicates of themselves.
We live in interesting times. And, interesting times call for interesting leaders.
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