New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- If we care to look closely at the people around us, study their attitudes and the tones of their statements, we are apt to sense something unsettling. Smiles seem to have faded from their faces. They sound forever high strung. Patience in short supply, their minds seem toeing on anger and intemperance. Kindness as a human emotion seems to have become obsolete. People appear more reactive, more hostile, and more fragile. In some sense, it looks as if we have become colder, harsher, and more unpredictable than ever before.

It feels as though humanity itself is suffering a tectonic shift in its foundations. What we see on the surface are only ripples, while the deeper undercurrents escape the headlines. There may be man...