Rudyard Lynch of @Whatifalthist fame is an intuitive thinker. Last night I got a

Rudyard Lynch of @Whatifalthist fame is an intuitive thinker. Last night I got a chance to discuss a bit of how he works through understanding different civilizations. I wanted that insight, because there is an implicity moral frame he presumes when he discusses history – and I wanted to understand it.

And, it’s an intersection of analytic and empathic. He has such a grasp of history, geography, and environmental conditions, that he can step into the shoes of almost any people in any culture in all of history and deeply empathize with their human feelings, wants, needs, and perspective on the world – as if he’s there with them.

And this is why he seems so balanced in his judgements, empathic in his understanding, and positive about mankind in general – he can see the ‘good’ in just about everything. And ‘reasonablness’ in how humans consistently approache the uncertain world we evovled in. man feelings, wants, needs, and perspective on the world – as if he’s there with them.

So it’s not just that he’s smart, not just that he’s mastered history, not just that he learned and TESTED theories of history partly through adversarial competition in historical strategy games, and by proposing alternate histories. But because he empathizes with people. And that’s because he’s fundamentally a very good human being down to his core.

And that’s what we see in his work.

Cheers
Curt Doolittle