What is the best analogy for the concept of 'ideas'? And perhaps also how they work?

Sorry to be the pragmatist, but unless humanity is guided by a God, there will be no ultimate plan, but only petty interests which occasionally add up to common goals. There is, however, a trend to move from survival into evolution, from evolution into economics, and from economics into significance. Prepare for a bumpy ride... According to science and mythology, each person lives for up to perhaps a maximum of 120 - 400 years.

That's not enough time to really 'control' history. People contribute values is my theory. Some people are grandmothers, other people contribute generously to charity, some people contribute intellectually, and some people were 'just there' when something happened.

Governing bodies do exercise some control over history, perhaps more than you would expect. But it's not just the elites, its everybody influencing this person or that person, or if not that person, this person. What's tragic is when entire meaningful influences disappear, because they were so isolated, and met with disaster.

You could say they were unwise, or not psychic. But the same applies to everyone, if everyone is mortal the human project is doomed to fail. But the longer we live, the more failure might not imply the end of the human race.

Values improve, but the status quo seems to sink lower and lower. It's all the violence, and the disappointments. People remember being tricked by a god, and then losing a business deal, and then being a failure in love, and then not getting just what they wanted when they were an intellectual, or something like that.

We can afford to be demanding people, but life isn't made without compromise. Old people ARE wiser, even when their lifestyle is out-moded. It's the problem of history.

The problem of time. The problem of sacrifice. Educated people will probably find a better life eventually.

There's nothing to do but improve, unless there' s a big distraction. That's the good news. The least thing we can do is aspire to a higher dimension.

At least there, we can undo mistakes and live for the moment. Clearly, whatever is going wrong is some kind of temporary failure of standards. Of course, life could be different.

There's nothing 100% against life changing for the better. Maybe its just an individual karma thing. It's always possible to improve a little, or improve a lot.

We get the life that matters to us, and what matters to us is our own fault. Exceptional people always thrive in the midst of absurdity. That's the answer I was reaching for.

By the context of future generations, we haven't even reached civilization yet. There's a lot of room for improvement, and unless something terrible happens, improvements will continue to be made, for those that are most concerned for their own reality. Blame apathy for the temporary hitch in human progress.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.