As long as men and women and boys and girls have inhabited this planet, they have sought to control their lives in whatever ways possible. In order to have a better harvest, they have experimented with different crops, different fertilizers, and different methods of planting. In order to kill more game for food, they created more and more advanced kinds of bows, more accurate arrows, more deadly traps. In order to protect themselves from neighboring tribes they produced walls and moats and castles, and better weapons.

But there has always been a feeling of uncertainty. A particular method of planting, a new brand of hunting instrument or weapon, a certain kind of house did not necessarily bring success. There were some things beyond their control. The crops might still fail, their enemies …