This book is a critique of the kind of human knowledge - religious, scientific, philosophical, political - that is supposed to explain and manage our existence. The author calls it Big-Knowledge. 'The Tree of Innocence' explains how it is faulty and the degree to which it misleads us.

Big-Knowledge also faces a gigantic upheaval. A specific human activity, the collecting of information about everything and collating it into a world-view would stop if humans disappeared altogether. Any knowledge left in the world would be just the innate nature of the remaining organisms though that is a huge amount of knowledge, far bigger and very different from the 'Big' kind we have accumulated in our brief history on earth. The world without us will lose our Big-Knowledge, and it is inconceivable that the world will suffer in the slightest as a result.

At present, many, perhaps a majority, of human beings do presume to be under the aegis of gods, or a 'God'. How would they react to the realisation that neither gods, nor nature, nor the universe, have the slightest concern for the fate of humanity?

Alternatively, how would it be if we took a long, hard look at ourselves and the global environment and decided to optimise our chances?

In our famous Big-Knowledge, there's some idea of what needs to be done to secure our future on earth. Being practical, as our environment is falling apart under our 'management', we could decide and implement a survival strategy. But, so far, we have merely demonstrated our ineptitude. There is virtually no sign yet of any useful action to avert a human apocalypse.