In this world, there are too many smart people who are overly smart within established frameworks. They’re used to explaining problems, but rarely ask: who defined this problem, and why does it arise in this way? For example, the devaluation of academic credentials can be explained as an imbalance between supply and demand and increased competition, but the deeper issue is why modern society depends so heavily on academic credentials as a screening mechanism. Very often, what looks like an analysis of reality is actually looking for reasons on reality’s behalf—helping existing rules complete their own self-justification. Perhaps the greatest danger in modern society isn’t a lack of ability to explain, but that, even as people gain ever stronger explanatory skills, they gradually lose the ability to question the problem itself.