So it was that, in the summer of pandemonium, the Northern Hemisphere — no longer remembering its own past — decided to move forward and confront the White Walkers armed with phony dragon-glass and an unbreakable spirit. The world had effectively entered the Paper Age, even more basic than the Stone Age. Centuries later, historians of the period would say that man-generated scarcity was the main characteristic of the Paper Age: suddenly, the globe found itself in a severe drought for toilet paper, paper towels and even toilet wipes! Costco became the new church for the believers that a better life awaited them once they got back home, sanitized their hands, tossed their street clothes into the washing machine and themselves into the shower. After the war with the invisible enemy was over, your success would be measured by the power of your hoarding. As the waves of an unknown deadly virus pegged on China and called COVID-19 continued to rise and ebb like a hungry sea for years, safety was no longer to be found in US Treasury bonds or S&P indexes, but in your pantry and its ability to withstand catastrophe.