The Law Of Small Things
In a connected world small actions have outsized effects.
Let’s start with a truism: nothing takes place in a vacuum. This is so true in the world we live in right now with its complex interconnections and interdependencies but it is also true of the one place where you would reasonably expect for a vacuum to actually exist: space. Space, as it turns out is not actually a vacuum. Weak gravitational forces exert pressure on cosmic dust which coalesces and begins a process that often leads to the birth of stars and the formation of galaxies. All of this, in retrospect, should have been more obvious as, per our truism, in a true vacuum nothing ever happens.
But enough diversion, let’s come back down to Earth to look at two examples of the same kind of long-distance, weak interconnectedness we experience in space. Afghanistan, to be precise. It’s the world’s largest producer of Lapis Lazuli (a semi-precious stone) and has been for over 3,000 years with its rich mines accounting for about 90% of the world’s production of the stone. The wealth of its mines in that regard has been estimated to about $1 trillion USD, enough to restructure the entire country and take it from its current sorry state to the 21st century. Afghanistan is also tremendously corrupt, finishing 174th out of 180 in “The World’s Most Corrupt Countries” Index with the ones at…
