Things have gone terribly wrong with our civilization. Social trust is plummeting, loneliness is epidemic, AI slop proliferates and microplastics invade our blood, brains and even breast-milk.

But the most disheartening statistic in my mind is this: 40% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, and 20% have seriously considered ending their lives. Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death for teens and young adults. Our children increasingly don’t want to live in the world we have made for them.

With problems this serious, we need more than policy nudges and algorithm tweaks. We need a civilizational course correction. But first, we must understand what is making us sick.

Twenty years ago, a group of thinkers converged o

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