
and at best maritime) metaphors and operating principles — that new systems will…. Astronauts talk about the Overview Effect, the quasi-spiritual experience of fully realizing that there is no point in borders, that nations, ethnicity, and any other arbitrary group designations are indeed just that — arbitrary. And from high above the earth, they are not just arbitrary, but appear ridiculous and obsolete. It is slowly sinking in that our current systems of governance and trade are still based on flatland (and at best maritime) metaphors and operating principles — that new systems will be required to pay tribute to this new awareness — and that maybe the old ones have to fall apart before we can create them.