{"id":80889,"date":"2019-04-27T14:24:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T18:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=80889"},"modified":"2019-04-27T16:27:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T20:27:34","slug":"prospect-talk-to-niall-ferguson-our-capacity-for-self-destruction-grows-greater-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=80889","title":{"rendered":"Prospect talk to Niall Ferguson: \u201cOur capacity for self-destruction grows greater every day\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best and worst presents you\u2019ve ever received?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presents are enormously significant to children who are not spoiled. As a child, I received them only on my birthday and at Christmas. The one that gave me the greatest satisfaction was either my first Action Man (my sons find this baffling) or a paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. The worst present\u2014which I received as an adult\u2014was an outrageously expensive Swiss watch made by IWC that caused me anxiety for years until, eventually and predictably, it was stolen.<\/p>\n

Are things getting better or worse?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some things better, others worse. By the material measures my friend Steve Pinker collects, things are mostly getting better. However, our capacity for self-destruction grows greater every day.<\/p>\n

What is the most embarrassed you\u2019ve ever been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I misspelt the word \u201cembarrassed\u201d in front of the entire Glasgow Academy at a school version of Mastermind<\/em>\u2014with Magnus Magnusson in the chair. I shall never live it down.<\/p>\n

What would people be surprised to know about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That I am an introvert driven into the public sphere by economic circumstances.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

If @nfergus<\/a> could spend a day in one place at one moment in history, where and when would that be?<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d quite like to pop up in the cabinet room on 2nd August 1914, and give a brief but shocking presentation.”https:\/\/t.co\/I0M9ULIFvb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Prospect Magazine (@prospect_uk) April 27, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n