I know about the reasons for the revolution in Mexico," wrote Karel Capek, "but I know nothing at all about the reasons for my next-door neighbour's quarrels. This condition of the man of today is called world citizenship, and it arises from reading the papers." This is to say, among other things, that no matter how much technology reduces the intellectual and social isolation of people, their metaphysical isolation is little affected. But the speed with which we are today abridging the intellectual isolation of people is unquestioned.