Editing The Long Nap (section)

'''The Long Nap''' (or Big Nap or Great Nap) is an elaboration on the history of [[Twin Nuclei Problem|The Twin Nuclei Problem]]. It describes the era characterized by magical thinking and extraordinary luck between the end of World War II and the 2020 emergence of COVID-19. Eric introduced this idea in an audio essay at the beginning of [[30:_Ross_Douthat_-_The_Rave_Before_the_Fall#The_Big_Nap|Episode 30]] of [[The Portal Podcast]].

The Long Nap—at least in the developed free world—was essentially characterized as a run of extraordinary relative good luck and serenity (at least by the historical standards set by previous world wars, pandemics, depressions, and depressions), where the new gathering storm clouds of the Cold War threatened and menaced in the distance, but the skies directly above remained unprecedentedly clear. This created a bizarre developmental environment where the serenity of the Big Nap led to a worldwide epidemic of magical thinking among the expert and leadership classes that were raised during this time.