Sometimes I’ll see a new bill passed or read a shocking headline—and my first reaction is the same as yours: “What the hell is happening to the world?”

I’ll get grumpy. I’ll vent to my wife. I’ll think, “This is dumb.”

But then I stop.

Because I’ve learned that we, as human beings, are terrible at making sense of complicated systems.

Even if something seems obviously harmful—or genuinely is harmful—it’s often impossible to know what the actual long-term effects will be. The systems we live in are too complex. You move one piece, and another shifts in a direction you never saw coming.

We teach this in business schools all the time. But we forget it when the world feels uncertain.

In this episode, I talk about why we get suckered into overreacting to things we barely understand. Why even smart people with lots of data still get it wrong. And why real change—like with climate tech—often comes from places we least expect.

I talk about China, capitalism, solar panels, and storms. But really, I’m talking about how hope still survives in complexity. And why stepping back doesn’t mean giving up—it just means seeing the system for what it is.

If you’ve felt overwhelmed by the news, this episode is for you.

Not because I’ll tell you what to think.

But because I’ll remind you that it’s okay not to know right away.