Sublime

political and economic interests

In every age, people are certain that only the things they have deemed valuable have true value.

and allow state

During the Scientific Revolution humankind silenced the gods too.

this is already an ideology, if not a religion.

This is of little consequence to most people, since most people rarely think about the broad sweep of human history anyway.

So the modern deal promised us unprecedented power – and the promise has been kept.

One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations.