“Mark Twain resorted to another image: if the full height of the Eiffel Tower represents the Earth’s age, then the human race appears as the final coat of paint on the knob at the very top is applied. The journalist with the toothbrush moustache went on to ask the logical follow-up question, but he was, however, reluctant to answer it: Was the tower built for the sole purpose of applying this one coat of paint?”