Introduction

At the November 2025 conference, Energy and the Economy: The Geography of Energy Flows, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, its CEO, Mr. Jeffery Schmid, made this response during the Q&A period. He thinks about how well the Fed is performing its mission by asking three questions: How well is it serving? Are we innovating? Is the Fed spending wisely? Indeed, these three questions should be asked and answered by our administrative and elected state, up and down the line. I will use these questions as a point of departure: to introduce this Substack, my hopes, ideas, suggestions, and offerings to come. (See chart below).

Bridge to a Better USA will offer a better framework for addressing the unique and serious challenges of this new era. I want us to cross the river of tribulation and confusion, then venture into a better place. The turn of every century is often cast as a new beginning. But this time is truly a turning point – an epochal change. We are amid a flood of marvelous and turbulent technology advances. Yet our institutions, political and economic thinking, the key measurements for the same, and many administrative processes are constrained by structures that arose two centuries ago. Within this confluence of change, the opening decades of this 21st century have seen a reduction in critical thinking in the public square, in favor of ‘shouting down’ opponents. These tech transformations and persistent rallies for old utopian ideologies are forming a culture of iconoclasm, degrading discussions of alternative solutions in favor of rule by emotional consensus.

In the past, Man was regarded as homo sapiens; then, with the industrial age and the technologies of the 20th century, we were truly homo faber; and now, are we to become merely homo respondeo? Certainly, in the lands of EDC, the visual digital dominance of screens and phones inculcates our minds to respond immediately to images. The eye’s funnel cascades images into the mind, launching not only a search and sorting for meaning but also a demand for more visuals. Thus, what the eye beholds becomes the de facto mediator. It elicits emotional reactions, evokes groupthink, and prompts impulsive responses. Today’s complex societies require, instead, critical thinking. This type of evaluation engages in deeper, more balanced consideration as it attempts to assess the whole of what is presented and known. Critical thinking is the mind’s thought work and requires training and effort. Our visual encounters are becoming endemic, with the average USA adult spending 6.5 hours viewing. These encounters are habit-forming and, as such, are reinforced by the business models of major tech companies. After all, what investment and defense of your business model would you be willing to make for a window, a nudging presence, into the head of every man, woman, and child? Let us stop and heed a paraphrase of Aristotle: the eyes are organs of appetite, the ears are the organs of instruction.

I will present a new framework, key categories, and tools that offer methodologies to rectify this era’s visual dominance. These tools will provide clarity, allowing us to stop and think, moving from a world of homo respondeo to Man as homo providus– signifying thoughtfulness, foresight, and wisdom. What greatly concerns me is our failure to jettison the failed ideologies, old political views, and some administrative structures, all established two centuries ago. The method I will advocate is based on first principles. From it, I will suggest ideas to accelerate the innovative successes of recent decades and preserve precious capital. Unlike Richard M. Weaver’s introductory sentence in his book, Ideas Have Consequences, these posts in Bridge to a Better USA and information on my coming blog site will not focus on the dissolution of the West but rather offer ideas and pathways to realize a better future.

I am from the business world, not an academic, and I do not want to play the role of a doomsayer prophet. I want to be more of a translator and pathfinder. Often, the language presented will be framed using geometric and process terms. The methods, tools, charts, and diagrams presented are categorical, triadic, geometric, and mechanical in their nature. I find it is difficult for disputes to arise when one understands how realities and ideas connect to an underlying geometry. The application of force on a lever acting against a firm fulcrum is a force multiplier—no question. A properly formed and positioned fulcrum allows the lever of knowledge, when actualized, to overturn obstacles, revealing the truth of things. Thus, clarity on better pathways and related actions is achieved—at a minimum, avenues for discussion and reflection have been opened.

Returning to the three questions Mr. Schmid asked of the FED, here is a chart that frames them to the three key arenas I will be presenting.

 

“To state the problem is to indicate a method and to inaugurate a program of inquiry.” Attributed to Karl Popper (1902-1994)

By now, the reader may be tempted to react, saying, as the character Ned Pepper in the movie True Grit (1969) did, “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.” Yes, I have a lot to substantiate. However, do you think we can get across the mire and the river flood we are facing without some bold words and actions? Can it be crossed in a single leap, or will it take gathering strength from solid forethought and preparing ourselves with new language and ideas? This is where I ask the reader to review my presentations and to share any questions or confusion. I welcome constructive comments and anyone who would explore and partner on developing the fortitude and bridge we certainly need

The Triadic Method
I will close this introduction with an example of how the triadic categorization can clarify enterprise thinking and plans. A lot of my thinking and recommendations start with triadic framing. Triads help our thinking avoid our natural tendency to jump to cause-and-effect or binary either-or assessments. When confronting complex issues and environments, my triadic approach allows for initial assessments of the whole—structure, state, and acts, as you will see. A good deal of present issues spring from the persistence of old structures—those of actual laws, administrative organizations, financial reporting, and economic measurement. Even our political language – liberal, conservative, progressive, neocon, and such- does not reflect the ‘street-level’ reality of their policies—much more on this in future posts.

A Triadic View –

This chart is from the R21 arena under the column Bridge to a Better USA in the chart above. It has an enterprise focus. I am presenting it without further lead-in commentary. Just review and consider the organization and the relationships of cells both across the columns and down the rows. This chart is an example of how properly ordered triadic categories can provide insights across diverse and complex arenas. This construct is built on and includes linkage to broader metaphysical truths– can you find these aspects in the chart?

Read the original article and additional information  on my Substack – Bridge to a Better USA

https://substack.com/@nealostman/p-198737950