Since society broke down some time ago and the family collapsed with it, most of us inherit none of the wisdom of fathers and grandmothers that used to form the basis of the “social capital” passed on to children in a functioning society. We are cast out with nothing but self-help books to guide us. As a result, we do not know even the basics of reading people. Conventional wisdom a century ago held out something we might call The Inversion Rule, which states that whatever people have to tell you about themselves is probably false and whatever they do not have to tell you—i.e. that is evident—is likely true.
