Several characters say throughout the novel that humankind is "always wrong." What do you think they mean, and do you agree?

Several characters say throughout the novel that humankind is "always wrong." What do you think they mean, and do you agree?

I guess I would say that humankind has always felt that the wilderness and nature in general would last forever - that we did not need to even think of deforestation or acid rain or the lumber/paper industry wiping out old growth forests. We obviously were always wrong in that assumption. But the difference is in the phrase "were always wrong" vs "is always wrong" so that implies that the characters feel that this is still the thinking of many although we can hope not.

Human beings seem to want to impose order of the human kind without an appreciation or ability to analyze and possibly internalize the order of other systems. Easy to be wrong without an understanding of the otherness of others.

I think we humans seem to believe that all of nature is here for our use/abuse, and that it will always be here for us to exploit. We believe we know what is best for the Planet, We are very wrong about that and our grandchildren will not thank us.

It may be that humankind is often wrong, but I don't agree that it is always wrong - at least not all of human kind anyway. We forget that we, too, are pawns in the game of life, but as we are at the top of the food chain, we forget what we don't know or what we cannot see. We forget that we are not in control and act as if we are. There are those among us, like Powers through this novel, for example, who seek to remind us of what we are doing in reality, who seek to paint a clearer picture for us in the midst of the chaos and activity of daily life. We are fortunate to have such people to remind us, to guide us - at least all those who will take time to listen - and hopefully help us to live and to work to be less wrong more often.