Object Thinking

7. Discovery

It is said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

—Anonymous

This adage is usually quoted as a motivation: “Get started, and the rest will follow.” The adage misses the potential problem, however, of what happens if that first step is in the wrong direction. It isn’t necessary to be a fan of chaos theory to recognize that even the smallest change in initial conditions (the first step) can have enormous impact on the eventual results.

For instance, suppose you are in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Bugs Bunny was famous for making a wrong turn here.) You want to go to Washington, D.C., following a direct line slightly north of east. Unfortunately, you were celebrating your coming departure last night, you arose much later ...