The insight that old things tend to last and new things tend to disappear flows from the Copernican principle. This principle says, in essence, “You’re not special.” Before Copernicus, we imagined that we occupied a very special place at the center of the universe. Now we know better: We are on an average planet in an average galaxy in an average cluster. But the Copernican principle applies to time as well as to space. If there is nothing special about our perspective, we are unlikely to be observing any given thing at the very beginning or the very end of its existence. And that rather obvious point can lead to some interesting predictions.

Accepting that we are just creatures who have evolved a little more than some species (except the banana). In recent years sports administrators have pushed coaches to make sport at all levels more fun. I'd been doing it for years (learnt from teaching, I suppose) but when the other coaches worked it out, the games were more fun for all ( fewer tantrums). Teenagers are so like chimps and orangutans.