A rock was a rock, a person a person, and an event straightforward. No human, prior to the Twentieth Century knew much about the intricacies of chemistry, the profundities of astronomy, the particularities of quantum mechanics, the implications of psychoanalysis, the puzzles of genetics, or the marvels possible through electronics. In fact, this century introduced such complexity that a professional in one field has tremendous difficulty communicating to a professional in a different field simply because of the mass of particular information. I think of the time when a founder of Transactional Analysis was talking to an astronomer at a cocktail party. Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Professional fields are complex.
No one can learn about them rapidly, and, to continue the old evolutionary reflex, non-professionals learn only bits and pieces of the historic disciplines. We live in an era when thinking has become like a collage with paste-up sound bite bits pasted around in a haphazard fashion. People, too, are complex. The brain makes snap judgments and categorizes people with enormous rapidity. If one is to grasp modern psychology it is necessary to cease the simple approach of rapid dualisms and be prepared for complexity.