David Brooks NY times today

No economic philosophy, including "free market"  is based on actual human behavior. Simple explanations of us are always incomplete.  Rigid policies which do not take into account all aspects of what we are will sooner or later lead to disaster.  HIs point can be expanded to all areas of human activity,  religious, cultural, social, and governmental, We are the total of our genes and experience.  Our species can observe, think, and  learn. That is our hope.  WE progress. Nature does not produce straight lines for any great distance.  Human progress is not linear for long.  But the long term trend is clearly upward.  We humans keep trying different philosophies, different ways to "make it better".  We are a work in progress.  We climb the mountain.  We run, we walk, we pause, we stumble, we roll backwards also.  We get frustrated, we despair, but sooner or latter we get up and struggle upward. We do not agree on what the top looks like, we do not agree which path will get us there.  But we keep trying. I have tried to observe, learn, and think and believe we will keep climbing up.