Dear Ross, I am amazed that the metaphor of cat and mouse is beginning to take a life of its own. I want to avoid being trapped by it. I regard Adam Smith as a very big cat (The King Lion). So the identity of who is the cat and who is mouse is open to switching, confusing the metaphor. I take the approach that we are living in a house that our ancestors built, and the construction has been an ongoing process. I am not as brave as Knight to suppose that we have somewhat of a correct view as opposed to the presumably incorrect view of our ancestors. I think that every generation makes changes in the house they inherit to suit their lifestyles. In my case, I am actually trying to return to the roots, sort of going back to the old house and see it somewhat from the view of <the mouse = the old cat>. Of course I admit that our tastes differ from our ancestors. We get bored by long verbal expositions and crave for neat math. May be we also prefer sharper distinctions. But I am not convinced that we are intellectually superior. Indeed, my argument is that we have strayed quite a lot and ought to rethink our point of origin. Mohammad Gani