I'd like to try too, [ Matt says immediately. ] I was told it's been tried before and didn't go that well, so maybe ... digging a little deeper into what happened with that to try and avoid past mistakes.

[ Despite that, he can't help feeling both hope and enthusiasm around the idea. If people stopped trying for peace treaties just because one (or two) failed, the entire history of mankind would be one long armed conflict.

Which he supposes is one potential reading. ]

But maybe if we can collect evidence that things are changing with the shadows, getting worse. Or that they've always posed a substantial risk as long as they've been around, and we can't put off dealing with it anymore. Maybe something like that would work better.