Abstraction Decline Threatens Civic Capacity

As societies downgrade the status of abstract, theory‑driven reasoning (less math in schools, fewer theory classes, less prestige for analytical scholarship), institutions that rely on generalized, long‑horizon thinking—law, large engineering projects, macro policy—lose capacity. This shift favors short, emotional, and situated rhetoric over neutral analysis, making complex collective problem‑solving harder. — If true, democracies will face a durable governance problem: fewer citizens and elites equipped (or valued) to construct and defend long‑range, system‑level policies.