“Now, here’s the problem. Once your species realized that they could use representations to test speculations or to make predictions of future events, they become obsessed. They felt, and it seemed reasonable to feel thus, that the greater the purchase upon prediction, the more powerful the method. Disastrously, however, they overlooked the fact that nothing is easier to predict than dead terrain. They more they killed, the more accurate their predictions became. This made them feel powerful, and was, in the end, almost completely overlooked, both literally and metaphorically.” — an anonymous informant