We live in a time of profound upheaval, of seafaring in choppy waters. Change is accelerating. Ideas from just a few years ago seem weathered already; ideas from a decade ago seem quaint. Politics is a cage fight between actors bent on remaking the world. Technological progress is approaching a point that may soon cause us to question the nature of human intelligence and the future of humanity itself. Many of our key institutions of governance, discourse, and civil society are damaged, perhaps irreparably. Promised, and to an extent realized, climate catastrophe portends death, dislocation, and an upending of our current order. Our politics feel more extreme than any time in recent memory because the stakes feel higher than any time in recent memory. They likely are.