The first step towards deep-thought.org was taken during the coronavirus pandemic. The three initiators - Stephan Witt, Werner Ahrendt and Matthias Kölbel - had met by chance a few years earlier. At some point they realized that they all thought in terms of systems theory. They never ran out of things to talk about at their occasional meetings. When everyone was involuntarily stuck in their apartment in spring 2020, Stephan started the initiative of regular video calls instead of the casual after-work gatherings. This tradition of fortnightly meetings outlasted the end of the pandemic. At some point, the question arose as to whether the ideas developed in their conversations were perhaps worth putting down in writing. The initial idea of a book was quickly abandoned because the topics discussed were too diverse to be squeezed between two book covers. Instead, Matthias activated an internet domain that he had reserved but never used. This then gave rise to the German-language website welträtsel.org in 2023 and, a little later, the English-language version deep-thought.org.

Each of us has an individual motivation for writing on deep-thought.org. However, we are united by our interest in the fundamental questions of understanding the world, which are referred to in German as “Welträtsel”. And we have made the experience that although new ideas can be developed in a quiet little room, they only reach the necessary maturity in dialog with other thinkers. We therefore invite interested readers to think along with us. The content on deep-thought.org is open for comments and evaluations. And anyone who feels enthusiastic is cordially invited to join our editorial team. With Tom Becker, we have already found a young colleague to strengthen our IT expertise.