In this episode Dr. Stuart Kauffman and I discuss human population, creativity, the consequences of the exponential growth of the modern economy, consumerism and consumption: a model for overwhelming our environment, the choices “asked” of humanity within a consumerist culture, reductionism and the center of our humanity, increases of GDP and the relationship to individual identity, creating meaningful tools and goods that sustain, shifting our understanding of work and widgets, the modern notion of a well-lived life, comparing COVID with other viruses, solutions to the pandemic, efficacy of our responses, definition of a virus, several theoretical options to cure COVID currently underway including: phage display, monoclonal antibodies, and the repurposing of other known drugs, combinatorial models for creative solutions to disease, ways to understand systems and biological networks, self-reflection in a time of chaos, the axial age and pivotal changes in humanity through different stages of civilization.