When the whole "global warming" frenzy began appearing in the media, I pointed out that 2,000 years ago, Sun Tzu recognized that the climate was, by definition, beyond human control. From my perspective, human-caused global warming was a religious movement, not a scientific "fact" as its supporters claimed.

In listing his five key elements to a strategy, Sun Tzu noted that "methods" must always conform to "the way," that is, your goals. or mission. Why was this warning necesssary? Because our methods, what we call systems, tend to take on a lfe of their own, expanding and growing well beyond their original purpose. This is famously true of government operations, but it is also true of most other organizations as well. They all lose their way. Not only that, but Sun Tzu's Principle of Reversal tells us that missions can reverse themselves: what was once the goal becomes the enemy.