MISJUDGING IRENE: Nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advances. “The great cliché of our age is that the march of civilization is an act of hubris that invites nature’s terrible blowback. The reality is that nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advance. I feel desperately sorry for the 37 people who lost their lives in the hurricane, and for their families. It’s remarkable the numbers weren’t higher. Would that all the world were as safe from nature’s fury as New York.”