I am nothing but a scientist of sufficiently advanced technology, which is to say a magician. - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Aunt Charla is one of those people who take pride in not knowing about anything that’s changed in the world in the last thirty years.

The emergent ecologies that were recolonising the place were very light on mammals and birds. You got little ones, mostly nocturnal even when their ancestors had been diurnal. The big winners were amphibians, reptiles, bugs. Because hot and damp works for ectotherms.

Long-term thinking requires a clarity the natural human mind is not good at.