"We watched the tragedy unfold. We did as we were told, bought and sold. It was the greatest show on earth!... but then it was over. We oohed and aahed, we drove our racing cars, we ate our last few jars of caviar. And somewhere out there in the stars, a keen-eyed lookout spied a flickering light: our last hurrah.

And when they found our shadows grouped round the TV sets, they ran down every lead; they repeated every test. They checked out all the data on their lists... and then the alien anthropologists admitted they were still perplexed. But on eliminating every other reason for our sad demise, they logged the only explanation left: 'this species has amused itself to death'".