Now, paradoxically, the large population that civilisation makes possible means loneliness is commonplace and with it consequences that natural selection, which is blind to the future, has not yet had time to deal with.

ECONOMIST: The reason loneliness could be bad for your health

Yet time with George reveals a few blind-spots in their vision of a future together and glimpses of loves that they both left behind.

ECONOMIST: Couples of convenience

Had the two arms of the study not been carried out in parallel, future researchers might have travelled up an expensive and time-consuming blind alley.

ECONOMIST: AIDS

If we will have driverless cars in the future, why are we spending time and money developing a car that a blind person can drive?

CNN: Why we made a car for blind drivers

But if we let convenience blind us to the fact that things could get locked up, we could be denying future generation a chance to build the next great businesses.

FORBES: The Internet Is Drowning