Everyone was used to official manipulation of the truth—to zhilu weima, to point at a deer and call it a horse, as the expression went. - Stephen Baxter

Humans and their petty doings come and go, but the geology endures.

A lion takes only the last deer in the herd. She does not dream of having so many cubs that the plains would be full of nothing but lions. There are simple laws. Most species figure them out; you are the exception. An ecology of a single species is not viable. A diverse, stable world would provide for you.

Have you studied history, Anna?"
"Yes. The information is limited, the interpretation is partial. But it is interesting.