Fry recalled how his mother had back in the 80s asked him to help her operate a fax machine, and that she had found the contraption a remarkable feat of human achievement.

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His aim is not to belittle the American achievement but to break the habit of treating it as a virtually isolated feat of self-creation.

ECONOMIST: American history

Looking back on her feat, the gymnastics equivalent of the first four-minute mile in athletics, Comaneci almost downplays her achievement.

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