Strange Loop Canon Are we less eccentric than we used to be? The thought started from a Twitter exchange recently. The prior credence that seemed to exist was that somehow we're living in an age of mediocrity. An era where the Great Persons of history or Great Works of history didn't exist any longer, or at least only existed sporadically. If you take a random sample of the important movers and shakers of 18th and 19th century Britain and compare them to 21st century America the biographies of the former are far more interesting, their pet projects far bolder and more creative.