We had a faulty understanding of Capitalism when we picked it.
Although the Western version of Capitalism has evolved and improved through history, there is still one glaring error in our understanding of economics: When we picked Capitalism as the Western economic model, no one knew that the clouds of coal smoke were damaging the ozone layer of our atmosphere. When we invented the car and chose gasoline as its fuel, we didn't know that burning gasoline might have fatal implications for the human race's future on the planet. Therefore, the central theme of Klein's argument is that we should adjust to our newly found scientific awarenesses about how late Capitalism might be affecting our fate.
We shouldn't allow our relationship with science to be corrupted by political views.
Klein is not shy about addressing the criticism she expects to receive from people whose political views make them unwilling to admit what the scientific community has proven verifiably: That late Industrial Capitalism across the planet is still changing the atmosphere and climate of that planet by shifting the balance of greenhouse gases. Because these beliefs are supported by scientific research and repeated tests, (which Klein admittedly doesn't have the training to understand), and since many important voices in the scientific community agree, Klein argues that her readers should do their own research, because they will find that, politics aside, we might have a serious problem here where the climate is concerned.
Capitalism is not the only functional model for human life.
Perhaps the book's most offensive theme to the book's critics is this unspoken theme. Because Klein is openly criticizing Capitalism, she implies this theme, that Capitalism is not the only possible mode for human society. We can take the parts of Capitalism that work and adapt to our new scientific awarenesses—just like we have done as a species again and again. Her philosophical assumption is that if we work together as a global community, and if we encourage creative solutions, that we can discover new ways of life beyond what we conceived in the past.
