It was Hamlet who noted that the times were out of joint. He had good reason to say so. His father had been murdered by his uncle who had then taken his mother to wife. The ghost of his dead father was abroad and making a commotion and he, Hamlet, was expected to do something about it.

Fast forward to the present day and the times seem to be out of joint, again. The certainties that upheld the order of things in the Cold War are gone, leaving us only with a fragmented international polity. Populism is resurgent in many countries and there are populist leaders whose self interest involves undermining the status quo and filling the void with nationalist hot air. Sounds a little bit like the 1930's, don't you think?

Worse still is the untethering of public discourse from evidence-based truths, the ascent of false news and alternate facts and a distressing disregard for the work of scientists. I am tired of presenting arguments to folks who believe outrageous things and whose minds are closed shut by whatever rabbit-hole they have burrowed into.

Yes, deep thinking can be tiresome and challenging. My wife laments that I do too much of it. But truly, I wish more people would take it up.