In 1958, Leonard Read published an essay titled, “I, Pencil” which is arguably one of the most famous essays in economics.

The basic summary is this:

Not a single person today knows how to make a pencil, from beginning to end.

When you consider the resource extraction, the transportation, the manufacturing, marketing, shipping and all the ancillary industries that feed into its production (right down to the person who makes coffee for the workers), it’s a very complex system.

And we’re talking about a pencil.

I look upon this essay now in a world that is incredibly interconnected and excruciatingly complex, but people insist on reducing it to the most simplistic ideas, and sincerely wish more people would heed its message.

If we want to understand things, we have to be ready to wade into incredibly deep waters.