Resignation. So here we are, after all. And why not? “Shooting the messenger” has become a national sport. “Evidence-based science” is now just a dirty word. A shrug is the answer to everything. Giving up is the only—albeit last—option. No pity for those who see empathy as a weakness. “Never again” was yesterday. Now it’s too late. The dead don’t protest.

If you like, you can listen to the album as a concept album. A wise woman travels through the land, carrying the light of the Enlightenment before her. Hardly anyone is willing to listen to her. People are dominated by anti-science doomsday cults. She is arrested, tortured, but manages to escape. She finds refuge with a small resistance group. But no uprising takes place. Friendly but determined, she moves on. She performs an ancient, arcane ritual in preparation for an ultimate sacrifice. She writes one last pamphlet and delivers one final impassioned speech. Then comes the realization: People do not want to be saved. What follows is retreat, introspection, resignation, and, in the end, a farewell to the world. The light of the Enlightenment is extinguished forever.