We can only know this for certain looking back. Knowing this looking forward is often cynicism, and it's a trap imho EDIT: The above are mostly something I try

We can only know this for certain looking back. Knowing this looking forward is often cynicism, and it's a trap imho EDIT: The above are mostly something I try to keep in mind with government public consultations. I acknowledge that cynicism is a little more understandable for private industry, as they are not even in theory rooted in anything but shareholder value-maximization, but gov is at least ostensibly aspiring for public good.