To put it into historical context, American independence was viewed by colonial powers as an extension of the Napoleonic wars, so drawing on that analogy with our current predicament, the world is not quite upside down yet. More to the point though, putting everything into the context of ‘survive or perish’, a condition our ancestors were more intimately in tune with, our paranoia has more to do with the fear of loss of those things we have merely become accustomed to holding near and dear. We have never been certain of their omniscience.