If you want to breed confusion, multiply. If you want to increase clarity, divide.
Like all general principles, this one is subject to abuse. Sometimes you need a large amount of data to form simple patterns, which is multiplying then dividing. This takes intelligence, which is not as common as it ought to be in 2020.
But it is nearly impossible for most of us to live happily with the Many. This is a fairly basic Taoist principle, which of course is echoed in most of the world’s religions.
Every day, we are confronted with literally countless choices. Where to go on the internet, what clothes to wear, what food to cook or where to go out to eat, who we want to be with, etc.
The task, however, is not for some elite to force us into small boxes. The task is for all of us to emerge from our individual chrysalises and learn the uses and limits of freedom, as they relate to ourselves as individuals, and our various Us’s. The system, like COVID-19, needs space to grow, and that may mean short term suffering, discomfort and doubt. But long term, it all resolves if allowed to play out.