ABSTRACT
I find Dr. Shand's paper exciting and attractive. In briefest summary, he develops a theory of human behavior based on the phenomenon of "consensus," which he regards as a function of human communication. He then uses this theory to interpret the present "state of the human condition"—and finds that it leads him into an impasse. In a sense which I deem significant, he ends up in the position of an experimenter who has made explicit his theory, has derived from it a testable hypothesis, has performed a crucial test of it—and finds hypothesis (and there therefore theory) unequivocally disconfirmed. That leaves him in a fundamentally exciting situation. And with an honesty which commands my attention and respect, he acknowledges the exquisite painfulness of his situation.
