Inattention Is the Real Sin

I invent a new atomic bomb. Do you think I’d tell you? I wouldn’t.

Likewise, many of the most profound discoveries in this universe are never shared with others—because they would harm the whole system.

You might think that’s not possible, because inventing an atomic bomb is hard. But there's a lot of information like this floating around—some small, some massive.

Let’s call these people the invisible herd.

The problem lies in the depth of a new discovery. Let’s say someone finds a cure for cancer. Sounds good, right? And then, years later, we realize that cancer actually has a function—that it's important to the system as a whole. That our relationship with disease is flawed. That our relationship with dying is flawed. That maybe we need diseases like cancer. That curing it has a negative net effect on the universe, on the ecosystem, on everything.

So in our obsession with eliminating cancer, we eliminated something essential—something we can't replicate—just because we didn’t like dying.

It’s just nature’s mistake, right?

Maybe we’ve already done this with half the ecosystem—wiped it out for no reason.