Hypernomics

Introduction

“Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Times were tough. Too many omelets to make. Not enough eggs. So, the woodcutter and his wife hatched a plan. We will abandon the kids deep in the woods, far from home; they schemed aloud, within earshot of the youngsters in the next room. With them, we starve. Without them, we eat. Once they're gone, we will be fine, the parents told themselves.

There was a way around that, the kids figured. They decided we'd get some white pebbles and drop them behind us as we walked into the woods. Then, after we are alone, we will follow them back in the moonlight. In this way, Hansel and Gretel made it back to their home.¹

So, what are you to do when you are in uncharted territory? An economic territory, that is.

Do what Hansel and Gretel did.

Plot the dots.

If there were only one sentence to explain this book, that would be it.

Everything else follows from that.

Why Hansel and Gretel wanted to return to a place where they were unwelcome is anyone's guess. But notice what they did in the process. They laid out a trail of high‐contrast dots (the bleached pebbles) that traced the way home. Going in another direction might lead them deeper into the woods or, worse yet, into the paths of mythical animals involved in other incredible fairytales (say, a talking Big Bad Wolf² since they are Grimm Brothers' characters). Instead, they constructed a plan.

Without the rocks, ...