How perfect, I thought, as I imagined Russia s president climbing the stairs to the attic of his palace to play the role of Peter the Great.

Another political fear of human nature is that if we are blank slates, we can perfect mankind the age old dream of the perfectibility of our species through social engineering.

The ability to reset and retry surgeries without any risk or additional cost will enhance neurosurgical training significantly. After all, practice makes perfect.

Unlike others, such as my Harvard colleague Martin Feldstein, who argue that Europe is not a natural monetary area, I believed that monetary union made perfect sense in the context of a broader European project that emphasized as it still does political institution building alongside economic integration.