Economics 101

I’m supposed to lead an online discussion group next week on the subject of economics.

Maybe they think that just because I’ve been working on a book about economics for the past 20 years that I should know what I’m talking about.

Actually, what got me started writing a book about economics was a 15^th century treatise by Nicholas of Cusa, who was, according to Wikipedia, “a German Catholic cardinal, philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician and astronomer.” What’s called a “polymath.”

I knew from my own research that Cusa greatly influenced Leibnitz and the subsequent non-Euclidean movement of Gauss, Dirichlet, Riemann, Einstein and the quantum theorists which has brought us to the doorsteps of controlled thermonuclear fusion and perhaps anti-matter beyond that.

Cusa’s treatise was entitled, “De Docta Ignorantia," Latin for "On Learned Ignorance."

The treatise inspired an early scene in the book I’m writing about economics, which I've decided has to be a love story with international intrigue because nobody reads a book about economics. The economics will have to be just beneath the surface, in code.

The scene in the book inspired by Cusa takes place in 2019 when the two main characters, Benny and Maria, first meet on a dating site.

Benny is an over-the-road trucker living in a truck with a view of America, but getting close to retirement.

Maria is already retired and has a nice home in a Denver suburb with a view of the Rockies to the west and the High Plains to the east.

They text back and forth.

She started it:

[MARIA] “Interesting profile.”

[BENNY] “Did you see on my profile where it says I’m a trucker? But I’m getting ready to retire. Just a few more runs and that will be it.”

[MARIA] “Yes, I noticed that you’re a trucker, but that’s not what impressed me.”

[BENNY] “Maybe that I’m a writer? I think I mentioned that in my profile, too. I wrote the profile years ago and I can’t remember what’s in it.”

[MARIA] “Yes, I noticed that you’re a writer, too. But what impressed me was your answer to the question about your idea of a perfect first date.”

[BENNY] “What did I say?”

[MARIA] “You said that if I cooked, you’d do the dishes, or vice versa.”

[BENNY] “True.”

[MARIA] “And I liked your answer to the question about what interests you.”

[BENNY] “What did I say?”

[MARIA] “Everything.”

[BENNY] “That’s pretty true, too.”

[MARIA] “What do you write about?”

[BENNY] “Right now, I’m writing a book about economics that has to be a love story with international intrigue.”

[MARIA] “How’s it going?”

[BENNY] “Ok, I guess. I’ve been working on it for almost twenty years, since shortly after 9/11… just two big problems… I don’t understand economics and I don’t know how to write a book.”

[MARIA] “Sounds like a good start.”