Future Think: How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change

Chapter 5. Efficiency Breeds Vulnerability

Trekking through the rainforest of Gamboa, in Panama, one comes across countless miniature freeways and highways composed of millions of ants. Each ant carries a tiny piece of leaf going in one direction, while an equal number scurry in the opposite direction, having already relieved themselves of their load at their home base, and are now hastening back to pick up yet another piece of leaf. What the ants do with these leaves (they make compost from them) is not the issue here. Their football-field length 20-lane highway is, as we eco-conscious tourists try desperately not to step on the ants intent on their laborious workaday commute. The guides are amused by our concern. They tell us to go ahead and ...