Daily news and sugar confuse our system in the same manner. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

We can discuss this point from different angles. Experts call one manifestation of such denigration of history historical determinism. In a nutshell we think that we would know when history is made; we believe that people who, say, witnessed the stock market crash of 1929 knew then that they lived an acute historical event and that, should these events repeat themselves, they too would know about such facts. Life for us is made to resemble an adventure movie, as we know ahead of time that something big is about to happen. It is hard to imagine that people who witnessed history did not know at the time how important the moment was. Somehow all respect we may have for history does not translate well into our treatment of the present.

No public institution or agency should be created without an expiration date.

Modernity starts with the state monopoly on violence, and ends with the states monopoly on fiscal irresponsibility.