Thanks to some mysterious alchemy of genes, neurotransmitters, and environment, I’ve never been particularly susceptible to the lure of alcohol or drugs. Of course, I have my own temptations. I won’t mention the embarrassing ones, but I’ve sometimes been seduced by the complicated algorithms that spread their pernicious brain worms via social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

I place my left hand against the slab of grayish-black, water-polished rock. It is 3:46 PM Mountain Standard Time on March 20, 2025, and I’m somewhere deep in the Grand Canyon. The rock beneath my hand belongs to the Granite Gorge Metamorphic Suite, which sounds like the title of an orchestral piece by Ferde Grofé, rather than a series of geological strata roughly 1.75 billion years old, give or take a few million years.