A professor at Harvard and a devout Baptist as well as a dedicated biologist, Wilson talks about the unity of knowledge, or consilience (a concept that was given this name by the scientist William Whewell as far back as 1840), which is essential in the logical study of any complex issue in today’s world. He urges us to span disciplines, and jump across the boundaries of fact and theory.

It is an exhilarating thought—that the ‘experts’ do not have the answers. That it is only through the weaving together of many strands by different disciplines of work, study and thought, that we will be able to break away from the deadening influence of fragmented knowledge. Wisdom is never piecemeal—it is complete, and rounded.

According to Wilson, it is that leap across the frontiers that will enable us to address long-term problems by following the path of interconnectivity, not of separate sciences and disciplines. Thus, for example, we have to look at land degradation and crop loss in the context of the fragility of our ecosystems, the instability of political groupings, the gross over-exploitation of water resources, the need to educate all levels of society on these questions, and the need to integrate this knowledge into information systems.

These are seemingly disconnected strands. But they appear disconnected since we have made them so. Problems will remain intractable so long as we divide them into comfortable and neat compartments and rationalize ways of tackling them. Take, for example, migration.

It is the outcome of a series of factors which, as in the case of Bangladesh, a focus of this book, appear to be disconnected. Some of these factors are slow to develop, like land degradation; others are dynamic and immediately visible, such as devastating floods. The reasons for migration thus range from population density, land pressures and land-carrying capacity, erosion of river banks, to even a drop in fish catch and the pull of those who have gone before. There are religious anxieties among smaller groups. These are multidimensional issues.

People may also move because they are attracted by the prospects of ‘a better life’, not necessarily because they believe they will actually have one. They know that while life may be ‘better’, it may not be easier, at least as far as social interaction with the host community is concerned. The latter may be hostile, at least for an initial period. For example, locating Bangladeshi migrants in Assam was not an easy task. Few would acknowledge that they had come from across the border because of fear of harassment by the local police and anti-immigrant activists.